President Bashar Al-Assad casts his vote in the People’s Assembly elections for the 4th legislative term

President Bashar Al-Assad on Monday cast his vote in the People’s Assembly elections for the 4th legislative term in an electoral center in Damascus.

After casting his vote, President Al-Assad answered reporters’ questions that focused on the electoral process and the Turkish-Syria relations.

It is the duty of the People’s Assembly to be part of the transitional developmental stage that has to do with the role of the State and its institutions in general and with policies, President Al-Assad said. He added that “We can put all hopes on the institution of the People’s Assembly, because it is the highest institution in any state.”

“The institution of the People’s Assembly is governed by three systems; the first is the constitution, which is clear regarding the role of the People’s Assembly. The second, is the law, which, like any law, may need some amendment and there is no problem with this issue. The third is the rule of procedures of the People’s Assembly, and here lies the problem, because this system is what determines the mechanisms which govern the role of this Assembly.

“As a Syrian citizen, the first thing I want from the People’s Assembly is to monitor the policies,” President Al-Assad clarified.

The President reiterated the importance of national dialogue pointing out that the People’s Assembly is the most important place for national dialogue.

Replying a question about the relation between Syria and Turkey and a possible meeting between the leaders of the two countries, President Al-Assad said: “If the meeting with the Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan serves the interests of both Syria and Turkey, I will meet him, but the problem is not in the meeting itself, the problem is in the content of this meeting.”

“Proposing a meeting is important to achieve the goal, but we heard nothing from the Turkish side about this goal. Is it solving the problem or improving the relation and restoring normal ties? Here we may ask a question: “Why the relation has deviated from its normal track?” We didn’t hear any Turkish official speaking about this point openly,” President Al-Assad made it clear.

“We are positive towards any initiative to improve the relations with Turkey, and this is the natural thing and no one thinks of creating problems with his neighbors, but this does not mean that we go to the meeting with Turkish President Erdogan without rules,” the President went on to say.

President Al-Assad pointed out that meetings between the Turkish and Syrian sides have not stopped and the Syrian side was positive, noting that a meeting is being arranged at the security level by some mediators. He affirmed that this meeting must be based on ending the causes of the problem, represented in supporting terrorism and the presence of Turkish forces in Syrian territories… which are the essence of the problem. “If these issues are not discussed, the meeting will be meaningless, as we seek work that achieves results, we are not against any procedure or meeting, the important thing is to reach positive results that achieve the interest of both Syria and Turkey,” the president said.

President Al-Assad asserted that normal ties between Syria and Turkey can be restored when abnormal factors such as occupation, terrorism, violations of the international law, disrespecting the sovereignty of neighboring and non-neighboring countries are uprooted.

President Al-Assad explained that protecting the borders that the Turkish officials are talking about comes as a result of these normal relations, as was the case previously. “The borders were calm and Syria has adhered to its committments for more than a quarter century regarding the issue of security on both sides of the border and the fight against terrorism. In this way we look at the issue of normal relations with Turkey,” he stressed.

“If we want anything in the world to achieve sound results, it must be provided with the appropriate environment, which is called requirements without which the process will not succeed,” President Al-Assad stressed.

He asked: “Can this relation proceed without international law? Without talking about the past explicitly… without talking about the political mistakes that led to the destruction of an entire region and to hundreds of thousands of deaths… can we move towards the future without benefiting from the lessons of the past and laying foundations so that future generations will not fall into the past traps? .

Hamda Mustafa