President al-Assad holds open dialogue with Syrian Syriac Catholic youths

SYDNAYA,(ST)_ President Bashar al-Assad held today an open dialogue with the Syrian Syriac Catholic youths during their camp kicked off on Tuesday under the title ‘My Hope is in You’, according to the Syrian Presidency website.

The dialogue was held at the Monastery of ST. Thomas in Sydnaya, located north of the city of Damascus.

The president asserted that Christians in Syria have been and still builder of its civilization, and they- alongside their Muslim brothers-  have conveyed Syria’s human and civilized message to the whole world. 

“The Christian originality in Syria is necessary to boost moderation and enrich diversity… Christians throughout history have contributed, through their stances and patriotism, to foiling projects of partition in the region and they have sent a message to enemies of Syria and sponsors of terrorism that all their colonial projects are doomed to failure,” President al-Assad said.

The president added that the national logic doesn’t accept minorities or majorities as the west tries to consolidate, but a good diversity, richness and harmony for a nation that has been and still living on this territory. He affirmed that preserving this diversity is the responsibility of all Syrians through permanent dialogue and communication.

“The Arab identity is a civilized case, not an ethnic concept.. the Arab civilization accepts the merging of all, but it rejects the extinction of their historic identities and helps keep them… targeting Christianity aims to target the religious, cultural and civilization diverse,” President al-Assad said.

The Catholic, Syriac Syrian youths, for their part, affirmed that their belonging and adherence to their Homeland, Syria, won’t shake whatever the challenges or conditions were, as they are original sons and citizens in this homeland.

They raised a number of questions which covered different kinds of problems and issues stemmed from the war, and many mechanisms were proposed to activate their contributions as youths in making the future of Syrian.

Basma Qaddour