PRESIDENT ASSAD 2000 INAUGURATION SPEECH ( July 17, 2000)
Syria’s Hope, Lt.Gen. Bashar Hafez Al-Assad threw his hat into the ring of
regional and international politics as to continue the march of construction and
modernization initiated and closely watched over by his father, President Hafez
Assad. The legacy of the late President would ever illuminate the path for
Syrians and all the honest; hence, President Bashar Hafez Al-Assad’s
inauguration speech came as a landmark strategy and mechanism of action at all
levels and fields. H.E reiterated Syria’s ever cling to the realization of just
and comprehensive peace on the related UNSC resolutions, the full return of the
land to line of June4 1967 lines, calling on Mideast peace sponsor to actively
and evenhandedly be engaged in the process and for more Arab solidarity,
cooperation and coordination.I am indeed honored to publish the full text of
this historic speech:
As I stand today in this gracious Parliament all I can do is to start my address
by thanking the Almighty God for granting us the strength in this resolute
country and for providing us with the appropriate means that helped us bear the
painful tragedy that has befallen all of us. I would also like to thank you all
for the precious trust you have put in me and which you have expressed through
your endorsement of what was contained in the letter from the Regional
Leadership of the Baath Arab Socialist Party that included nominating me to the
post of President of the Republic. I truly appreciate all the efforts you have
exerted in your deliberations relating to the contents of this letter, these
deliberations that revealed your high sense of responsibility and your abundant
feeling of love for your country. From behind this podium I would like to
express a very special thank to all our people, men and women, old and young,
inside and outside Syria who bestowed upon me their trust through voting in the
referendum and through their active participation in this national duty. I would
also like to thank them for all the love and loyalty they expressed to me which
had a great effect on me and granted me strength and optimism in the future. The
result of the referendum is an expression of the will of the people and there is
nothing I can do except to respond to the will of the people and to willingly
accept to carry the mission I am asked to carry and shoulder the burdens and
tasks related to fulfilling my duty during these very delicate and sensitive
circumstances which our country, our nation and the world at large are going
through at the moment. I shall try my very best to lead our country towards a
future that fulfils the hopes and legitimate ambitions of our people.
These tasks are both very difficult and very easy. These tasks are very easy
because the great leader, Hafez al-Assad has prepared for us a firm ground,
solid basis and a great heritage of values and principles which he defended and
adhered to till he parted with us and moved to the after life. Added to this the
infrastructure and the great achievements in all fields and throughout the
country that will enable us to launch our work strongly and confidently towards
a future we all desire. Yet, these tasks are difficult because the approach of
the great leader, Hafez al-Assad, was a very special and unique approach and
therefore it is not easy to emulate it especially as we remember that we are
required not just to maintain it but to develop it as well. This undoubtedly
requires great efforts and work at all levels with the aim of building on the
basis of what has been achieved in the glorious period of Assad to continue with
what has been achieved and to multiply the steps determined to overcome the
difficulties and cope with the challenges without giving up our national
principles ordained in our hearts and minds. In all this we have to imitate his
wisdom by transforming sorrow to a creative energy and the painful event to
continuous work and achievement.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I said this yesterday and I reiterate it today that I am not after any post nor
do I avoid any responsibility. The post is not an end but a means to achieve an
end. And now, and since my people have honored me with their choice of me as
president of the Republic and after I have been sworn in and assumed my
responsibilities I would like to say that I have assumed the post but I have not
occupied the position; the post has changed but the position remains unchanged
since I was born and where the Almighty God wanted me to be and where our people
desired me to stand since they have known that there is some one who truly loves
his people and whose people truly love him and are loyal to him and where my
parents and my family wanted me to be and in the place which I am determined to
maintain and cherish to be strong by it and through it. This position that never
changes is the position from which I serve my people and my country. The
question now is what does this new post add to the position in which I have
always found myself? I have always said to those I met with, that the post is a
responsibility but the position has imposed this responsibility on me
beforehand. Some might say that the post gives the legitimacy, but the
legitimacy is first and foremost the will of the people and their desire. The
importance of your vote on my nomination stems from the fact that it is a
response to the desire of our people whom you represent in all their different
strata. Hence, we can say that the responsibility is towards the interest of the
people and the legitimacy is the people's will and their desire. The post is
only the framework combines the two and regulates their relationship. Thus this
post has added a huge burden to my position, a burden that consists of your
love, trust, ambitions and hopes that I shall, with the will of God, be able to
shoulder with your help and support.
Every decent citizen has to put himself in a the position I have indicated
above, shoulder his/her responsibility and to believe in legitimacy even if he
were in situation that does not allow him to implement his ideas. The post does
not engender responsibility, the opposite is true. The post deprives one of his
responsibility and allows him to exercise it only through the authority granted
to him. Whenever a person who has no sense of responsibility assumes a post he
can take nothing out of it except power and power without a sense of
responsibility is the source of chaos, carelessness and the destruction of
institutions. The ideal state of affairs is that every one should feel
responsible and this does not mean that every one should occupy a post. Posts
are basic junctures in which the performance of society is continuously checked,
inspected and energized in two directions: from top to bottom and from bottom to
top. Thus, if anything went wrong at the bottom this will reflect at the
performance of the top, and if any one at the toviolated the rule this will
reflect negatively on the bottom. Thus society will not develop, improve or
prosper if it were to depend only on one sect or one party or one group; rather,
it has to depend on the work of all citizens in the entire society. That is why
I find it absolutely necessary to call upon every single citizen to participate
in the process of development and modernization if we are truly honest and
serious in attaining the desired results in the very near future.
As we are speaking about development, which I believe, is the major concern of
every citizen in this country and in all fields, we have to know in which
direction we are treading and what is the best way to take and what are the
desired results. The answers to such questions constitute the compass that
determines our current and future moves. In order to achieve what we aspire to
achieve we have to move at three basic fronts at one and the same time: First:
to suggest new ideas in all domains whether in order to solve our current
problems and difficulties or in order to improve the current situation. Second:
to renew old ideas which are no longer appropriate to our reality with the
possibility of discarding outdated ideas which can neither be renewed nor could
they be beneficial; rather they have become an obstacle in the way of our
performance. Third: to improve old ideas and renew them in order to be suitable
to the current and future purposes. Each work needs to be assessed in order to
determine the percentage of progress and achievement in it. It is useful in this
regard to adopt a set of measurers: The first measure is the time factor which
we should use to the utmost extent in order to achieve what we aspire to achieve
in the shortest time possible. The second measure is the nature of the situation
in which we live and the different circumstances: internal and external, which
surround us. The third measure is the potential we possess in order to start our
pursuit to reach the designated objective, taking into account that the
potentials are not fixed givens but they are susceptible to modification and
change through our efforts and effectiveness. The fourth measure is the public
interest at which all previous measures meet and through which all of them
should be determined. This is a measure and an objective at one and the same
time. What is the value of any work we do if it is not navigated by public
interest? But in order to make the required move, and with confidence that we
shall succeed, we have to have a certain set of means the most important among
which are: The creative mind that cannot be stopped at any limit and does not
confine itself to any fixed framework. Today and tomorrow we are in desperate
need to creative minds in order to push the development process forward. Some
people may believe that creative minds are linked to age and that they can
frequently be found with the youth but this is not quite accurate. Some people
of a young age have strong minds and some elderly people may depart this life
with minds that are still so lively and creative.
We are also in desperate need to constructive criticism which is the exact
opposite of destructive criticism that often colors most discussions and
proposals for various reasons whether they are personal or otherwise. In order
to be constructive in our criticism we have to be objective in our thinking.
Objectivity dictates that we should view each topic from more than one
perspective and under more than one circumstance. Hence, we analyze it in more
than one way and then we may reach more than one possibility, or at least the
best possibility or the closest to the truth. We have to stop ushering criticism
with the objective of beseeching people or of inviting people to clap hands for
us or with the aim of provocation or malice. This is a waste of energy and time
that we can well do without. When we say constructive criticism and an objective
opinion this will necessarily mean to view the topics under criticism in a
complete and comprehensive fashion in a way that enables us to see the positive
points as well as the negative ones. In this way we will be able to increase the
positive points at the expense of the negative ones and this is the only way to
development. As we are speaking about instruments we cannot afford to ignore the
issue of accountability which is a complete and inseparable process that starts
with the basic and the smallest unit in society which is the citizen and it ends
up with institutions. Each citizen has to ask himself and watch it and review
his daily work, otherwise this accountability will not fulfill its objectives.
Here, one's conscience plays an important role and the necessity to purify it
form all misgivings that cause its impurity due to certain circumstances and
different factors that may surround each individual. As for the other levels of
accountability which are carried out by specialized institutions, they relate to
the cases in which there was an abuse of rules and regulations, the cases which
should be very few if personal accountability is properly exercised.
In this case the performance of institutions would be better and healthier. This
is a continuous process that should be in parallel to the work or should form a
part of it. Mistakes in their various forms are part of life and if they are not
duly addressed they will be aggravated. Correcting mistakes, however, should
never aim to revenge; rather it should be meant as a deterrent for others and
not just for the one who committed the mistake but for all those who might think
of committing similar mistakes. In such a way we will be able to put a common
strategy for development that will constitute a specific framework for steps and
measures which should be taken in order to achieve the objectives of such a
strategy, especially as our country has undergone different historic, political,
economic and social circumstances during the twentieth century, circumstances
that were and still are changing rapidly. These changes were mostly political.
President Hafez al-Assad was able during the last three decades to put a general
strategy that responded to the various needs of desired development; a strategy
that covered different sectors. The political strategy which he put and
supervised both its implementation and development proved a great success until
this very day. As for the other domains, as we all know, they did not cope with
the excellent political performance for many reasons. That is why there was a
definite gap between the political performance and the performance and all other
sectors. If the performance of other sectors were better our political stand
would have been stronger no doubt, though it is solid enough, but our ambis
always to add to what we have. The performance in the economic field, in
particular, went through sharp fluctuations as a result of changing
circumstances that in turn were the subject of sharp changes, particularly as
our economy moved from an economy that has open markets to an economy that has
to be competitive. This point was addressed through issuing laws and decrees
which were sometimes experimental, sometimes impulsive and at other times they
were a reaction to a certain state of affairs. Very rarely this point was
addressed in an effective way that takes the initiative which precedes event.
The reason for this was that there was no clear strategy that aimed to bring
about certain legislation; rather the economic strategy came as a result of all
these legislations. Hence, it came out weak with many loopholes and it was
partially to blame for many of the difficulties from which we suffer today. This
means that today we need economic, social and scientific strategies that may
serve both development and steadfastness in the meantime. Such strategies are
not available as ready recipes; rather they need deepened studies the results of
which can be considered the basis that decides our point of direction. This
undoubtedly needs time, effort, cooperation as well as extensive and broad
dialogues.
The question that we have to ask here is, shall we wait to finish putting the
required strategies in order to start the process of development or do we
continue to improve what we have started in the past? It seems to us that the
work should start in parallel through a follow up of taking the required
measures in addition to preparing visions in order to draw our future plans
knowing full well that fragmented development does not achieve our desired
objectives. Hence there is a need for coordination and complimentary orientation
among measures and steps taken in all fields. All what has been indicated above
needs analysis and analysis needs studies and results which in turn need a
reality to be based on. When we say reality' it means accurate figures. Figures
do not lie and therefore they are genuine and transparent. Dealing with figures
requires honesty and transparency. The term transparency' has been frequently
used and discussed lately in dialogues and essays and in other places as well.
Some used to call for a transparent economy and others called for transparent
media while some others called for a transparent mentality in other domains.
There's no doubt that transparency is an important thing and I support such an
endeavour but through a proper understanding of the content of the idiom and of
the ground on which it might be based. Prior to being an economic or a political
or an administrative case, transparency is a state of culture, values and social
habits. This poses a question and a requirement in the meantime that we should
ask ourselves before we address it to others; am I transparent with myself first
and with my family second and with the close and distant circle and with my
country third? Any one whose answer is in the affirmative will undoubtedly know
the meaning transparency and will be able to appreciate its horizons and to
practice it wherever he/she might find himself herself. How do we, for example,
ask a person who is not honest in his personal life and with those closest to
him to be an honest official towards his responsibility and towards his people?
If he is a vague man in his arguments how do we ask him to be transparent when
he assumes a certain post? If we want to address a problem we should start at
the beginning and not at the end and we should address the cause rather than the
result. This dictates that we should face ourselves and our society bravely and
conduct a brave dialogue with both in which we reveal our points of weakness and
talks about customs, traditions and concepts which have become a true impediment
in the way of any progress. Society is the path on which all progress in
different domains must tread. If this path is not good, development will
flounder or stop, which in a relative sense means going backwards. This is one
of the difficulties in our reality and the analysis of this reality requires
concentration on the obstacles which keep this reality as it is without any true
improvement. This needs an active participation by all parties concerned,
outside the framework of the State and inside it so that all groups and social
strata may contribute to finding the appropriate solutions. I would like to
stress here that any one who figures out a problem should also indicate the
solution for it. We have to shake off the attitude of evading the sense of
responsibility. We have to give up reliance on others. The employee relies on
his colleague and the junior employee relies on his senior and the citizen
considers the State responsible finding for solutions. I would like to reiterate
here that finding solutions is the responsibility of all of us in order to make
these solutions complete and effective. You should not rely solely on the State
nor should you let the State rely solely on you: let us work together as one
team. I would like here to give an example from our economic life which is the
case of export that is considered an important pillar in the national economic
income and which will receive a very special attention during the coming period.
It is the duty of the State to issue legislations and laws and to make decisions
and sign agreements with other countries and parties in order to encourage
export and to help find markets in addition to achieving the capacity to be
competitive, but this will not be completed properly if the Syrian goods do not
enjoy a good reputation and if they are not of high quality and standards. Added
to this the fact that both producers and exporters should be accurate and should
respect the date of delivery in addition to conducting marketing operations for
their goods and effectively participating in domestic and external exhibits in
order to broaden their markets, the fact that will achieve prosperity both for
them and for national economy. In this regard it has become necessary to move in
steady, though gradual, steps, towards performing economic changes through the
modernization of laws, the erosion of bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way
of internal and external investment flow, the recruitment of both private and
public capital, and the activation of the private sector and granting it better
opportunities to work. It is also necessary to bring the public sector to a
competitive level in both domestic and external markets, the thing that leads to
a balanced and comprehensive development in all provinces of the country and in
rural as well as urban areas. This will also lead to a fair distribution NGP in
a balanced fashion, to the increase of job opportunities and to the improvement
of the livelihood of citizens in the light of the increase of their lively needs
and the constant increase in the cost of living. The agricultural public sector
should also be developed through the modernization of its means of production
and through the search for markets to sell its products as well as through
enhancing land reform and dispensing with negligence and passivity which took
place in the past and to speed up the building of dams that serve our
developmental plans. We have also to put a wise economic policy that bridges
gaps between sources and expenditure, between export and the rehabilitation of
the private and public economic sectors to face the increasing dangers resulting
from the challenges of globalization. In this way our economy may well assume a
respectable place in regional and international economic blocs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our aspirations will not be properly fulfilled unless we emphasize the role of
institutions in our lives. An institution is neither a building nor a system
that governs nor the persons who work in it; rather, it is first and foremost,
the institutional thinking that considers every institution, however small it
might be and whatever its domain may be, a representative of the entire country,
its reputation and its civilized outlook. Institutional thinking acknowledges
that institutional work is a joint and not a personal work, a work that is based
on honesty, sincerity and on using time to the maximum extent, on putting public
interest above personal interest, and on putting the mentality of a state above
the mentality of the tribe. It is the logic of cooperation and openness to
others, and it is inseparable from the democratic thinking which has many things
in common with it in various places. This means that democratic thinking
enforces and strengthens institutional thinking and work. To what extent are we
democratic? And what are the indications that refer to the existence or
non-existence of democracy? Is it in elections or in the free press or in the
free speech or in other freedoms and rights? Democracy is not any of these
because all these rights and others are not democracy, rather they are
democratic practices and results of these practices which all depend on
democratic thinking. This thinking is based on the principle of accepting the
opinion of the other and this is certainly a two-way street. It means that what
is a right for me is a right for others, but when the road becomes a one-way
road it will become selfish. This means that we do not say I have the right to
this or that; rather we should say that others have certain rights and if others
enjoy this particular right I have the same right. This means that democracy is
our duty towards others before it becomes a right for us. Democratic thinking is
the building and the structure. We all know that when the foundation of a
building is weak the building will be threatened to fall for the slightest
reason. Hence, each building is designed in a way and has a foundation
appropriate to the weight it is expected to carry. Hence, we cannot apply the
democracy of others on ourselves. Western democracy, for example, is the outcome
of a long history that resulted in customs and traditions which distinguish the
current culture of Western societies. In order to apply what they have we have
to live their history with all its social signification. As this is, obviously,
impossible we have to have our democratic experience which is special to us,
which stems from our history, culture, civilization and which is a response to
the needs of our society and the requirements of our reality. In this case our
experience will be strong and able to stand the test of time no matter how
difficult that might be. Destructive experiences in different countries: close
and to see and take lessons from. Our National Front is a democratic example
that has been developing through our own experience and that has played a basic
role in our political life and in our national unity. Today, it has become
necessary to develop the method of the work of the National Front in a way that
responds to the needs of development in our developing and changing reality at
all levels. As the democratic and the institutional thinking are linked, and I
am not saying identical, administration is bound to be influenced by them.
Hence, administrative reform which we have to conduct in both the private and
the public sectors is linked to them: it develops with their development and
retraces with their retrace. Administrative reform is a pressing need for all of
us today. Inefficient administration today is the greatest impediment in the way
of our march towards a better development; it negatively affects all sectors
without any exception. We have to start immediately to prepare the studies which
ensure the change of this reality to the better through improving the
administrative systems and their frameworks, through increasing the level of
efficiency of the administrative and professional cadres and through putting an
end to the state of carelessness, passiveness and evasion of carrying out one's
duty. There is no escape from bringing the careless, the corrupt and the evil
doers to justice. This also requires the improvement of the accountability
apparatus in the country in order to make it more effective and to support it
with the appropriate resources. Here comes the importance of the energized role
of your Parliament in correcting the work of different institutions through
pointing to the points of weakness and inefficiency and following up the process
of correcting it in a positive way. I would also like to stress here the
important role of the judicial system and the necessity to support it with the
clean and efficient cadres so that it may play its full role in order to achieve
justice and guard the freedoms of citizens and the proper implementation of
laws. From what has preceded we can notice that the work of institutions is
closely linked, the fact that requires also a close link between the mind that
governs and organizes the work of each institution such as the institutional
mentality, the democratic mentality and transparency that starts in the home and
grows or recedes through the circumstances of daily life. Society is the fertile
soil in which we sow our seeds; as for the fruits we reap in institutions.
Hence, the better the seeds we sow the better and fresher the fruits we reap.
The task of the state is to prepare the suitable and appropriate ground for the
seeds to grow. It also has to provide the best circumstances for this growth and
to guarantee that the fruits remain fresh (which is the most important stage) so
that our soc may benefit from them; otherwise they will go off and become rotten
and a source of illness and disease.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have to respect law because it guarantees the state's respect for the citizen
and the citizen's respect for the state. The rule of law guarantees our freedom
and the freedom of others. We have to fight waste and corruption taking into
account that each kind of work will necessarily entail a percentage of
unintentional mistakes which should not worry us but we should try not to allow
their recurrence. We have to distance ourselves from chaos and wasting time and
to commit ourselves truly and sincerely to our work and to double our efforts in
order to make up for what has been lost. We have to give up the idea of
uprooting the status quo in totality instead of working to develop and improve
it basing our work on the view that human life has no ultimate truth. No matter
how bad the reality might be it must carry within it some good things, and no
matter how good or excellent it might appear it will not be pure from
misgivings. The march of people is made up of successive achievements, each
group of which is built on what has preceded it. Development comes as a result
of building positive things on the good things that preceded them. As for
backwardness it is the opposite of that. Hence, one can launch one's work from
the positive points even of a bad reality to create a better reality and from
the better one moves to what is best. While if we are to uproot everything in
reality it means that we are eliminating it with all its negative and positive
points, and then when a new launch is needed what is it to be based on: a vacuum
or a point zero? We have also to get away from repeating concepts and idioms
without any proper understanding of their contents. Many ideas may respond well
to our needs but the lack of a proper understanding of these ideas may turn them
into harmful concepts. We have to pay a very special attention to qualifying
cadres and training them in all fields and at all levels through depending on
national cadres both in Syria and out of it in addition to contacts with Arab
and foreign cadres and through benefiting from countries which have successful
experiences in various fields. We have to stress the importance of planning and
the quality of this planning in order to reach a qualitative society and state
and in order to continue the building of contemporary and progressive Syria. We
also have to stress the importance of spreading education and knowledge and
information technology as well as paying special attention to the trade of minds
and to exporting ideas and developing scientific research through providing the
infrastructure that starts with organized work through research institutions and
ends up with the necessary technologies, according to the abilities and the
necessity of linking this to the developmental needs of our society. Reform and
improvement are certainly needed in our educational, cultural and information
institutions in a way that serves our national interests and strengthens our
genuine culture that leads in turn to undermine the mentality of isolationism
and passivism and addresses the social phenomena that negatively affect the
unity and safety of our society. The target of all what has been mentioned above
is to prepare skilled and qualified social forces able to deal and interact with
various world developments especially as our current reality constitutes a
ground that is not quite apt to enter the new century which is the century of
institution and information technology. It will be very difficult to achieve any
of what has preceded if women were not active participants from their positions
as they constitute a true half of our society. Women are the ones who bring up
both men and women and who prepare them to participate in building their
country. Women play an important role in progress and development in various
places of work. The appropriate ground for women's participation should be well
prepared so that they may become more effective in our society and more capable
to play a role in its development.
If we are able to commit ourselves to all what has been mentioned above we can
rest assured that Syria will stay the master of itself, free to take its own
decisions, taking into account that none of us has a magic solution to solve all
the problems in one go. Hence, there is a need to put priorities and preferences
remembering always that change is not an end in itself but a means to respond to
our daily needs. Promises should not be cut unless one possesses all the
elements that lead to the achievement of the required task. This could be
possible at a personal level or in a certain domain or field but when we speak
at the level of a country, especially when hopes are so great and difficulties
are just as great, then no one person may possess all the right elements and no
single post can provide them; rather these elements have to be found by the
community, officials, institutions and citizens. What I can promise you now is
that I shall work tirelessly. As for achievements we have to promise each other
that each one of us shall offer what she/he has of elements and potential and
abilities in order to reach our common objectives.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our strenuous efforts to foster our domestic front are strengthened through our
relations with other countries especially our Arab brother countries at all
levels, and through activating the existing Arab economic conventions and the
continued efforts to establish a true nucleus for a joint Arab market. This is
the minimum but the best possible thing now in order to maintain what is left of
the hopes for establishing healthy Arab-Arab relations. The state of the Arab
nation and the weak ties among Arab countries that have prevailed during the
last few decades and especially during the nineties is no longer a secret to any
one. Regional interests superseded the national ones; the Arab body was weakened
and the Arab nation suffered from divisions among its countries. The Arab nation
accommodated itself to this new abnormal situation, and what should have been a
state of emergency became the normal state of affairs to the extent that any
talk about Arab nationalism or Arab solidarity seems at least to some to be
romantic or a waste of time. Some even started to shed doubt on Arab common
interests. Despite this deteriorating state of relations among Arab countries
which might prompt some to be pessimistic and others to be frustrated we should
not surrender to the feeling of utter hopelessness to achieve any breakthrough
in this regard. We should neither surrender to this current reality nor be
satisfied with it.
There has to be and healing initiatives that do not rely on the logic of gain
and loss at the country level but at the national level. They should depend on
the goal of collective gain that will make individual gain more certain. Such
initiatives should also depend on the logic of national dignity and Arab values
and ethics. In this regard we look forward to a more effective role played by
the Arab League to achieve this particular goal. We, in Syria, shall stay as we
have always been, supportive of any solidarity step that might serve the higher
interest of the Arab nation, particularly steps that might lead to the
consolidation of points of agreement among Arab countries in a way that
undermines points of difference and division and paves the way for a reasonable
level of productive relations among these countries at a first stage in order to
prepare for a better future for these countries at later stages. We have to do
that fast because the new international situation gives the position to the
stronger party. This is the fact that prompted many countries to establish
different regional alliances in order to be stronger in facing international
challenges and to gain an extra margin in their manoeuvres. We who possess
greater factors to establish a coherent unit are called upon more than any one
else in the world to pursue such a project of regional unity. We consider our
relationship with Lebanon an example of a relationship that should exist between
two brotherly countries. But this example is not perfect yet and it still needs
great efforts in order to be ideal and to achieve the joint interests of both
countries in a way that responds to the ambitions of both countries.
Nonetheless, the Syrian-Lebanese solidarity during the past few years has
achieved a great deal which would have been impossible to achieve had each
country worked on its own and in isolation of the other. Ending the civil war in
Lebanon, establishing national reconciliation in addition to the defeat of the
Israelis in the eighties and nineties and finally their worst defeat lately in
the month of May are a clear evidence of the importance of this solidarity. Of
course, all these achievements were based on the solidarity and unity of the
Lebanese people and state with the heroic Lebanese national resistance. We, in
Syria, shall always stand by Lebanon and support it in all its national causes,
especially in matters which concern the return of its full territory and the
return of its prisoners locked in Israeli jails and in its brave stand in the
face of repeated Israeli threats to lead an aggression against it.
Such threats do not serve the cause of peace in the region; rather they keep the
points of tension hot, the fact that keeps the threat of the emergence of new
circles of violence in the region possible as well as putting obstacles and
impediments in the way of achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the
region. In this regard, Israel still occupies our Golan and this is a topic that
preoccupies us. The liberation of our territory is at the top of our national
priorities and is as important to us as the achievement of a just and
comprehensive peace that we have adopted as our strategic choice, but not at the
expense of our territory nor at the expense of our sovereignty. Our territory
and our sovereignty are a matter of national dignity and no one at all is
allowed to compromise any of them. We were very clear in dealing with peace
issues, firm in our stands since the beginning of the peace process in Madrid in
1991; unlike the Israeli policy that fluctuated sometimes and put obstacles at
other times. Until this very moment they did not give us any proof that invites
confidence that they have a true and genuine desire to achieve peace. Rather
they have been suggesting different versions in order to cover what they truly
want to do so they ask us to be flexible and I think that they mean the
territory should be flexible in order to press its borders and make it shrink in
a way that suits their objectives or they send us missionaries who ask us to
agree to a modified line of June 4 and ask us to call this modified line June 4,
as if the difference is about naming the line. Or they suggest to give us 95% of
our land and when we ask about the remaining 5% they say it is only a problem of
few meters and this should not be an obstacle in the way of peace. If those few
meters are not a problem and should not be an obstacle in the way of peace, then
why they don't return to the June 4th lines and give us 5% of the territory west
of the Lake? They have betted on many things; they have betted on the health of
President al-Assad forgetting that national leaders who enter history enter it
through the doors of their own countries and enter the world of eternity through
the same door and never through concessions and giving up rights. They have
betted on the military strength and were defeated in Lebanon. They have betted
on our national unity and our people defeated this bet and now what are they
going to bet on? The only betting that may succeed is to bet on the will of the
people to return their rights through the return of their complete territories
to the line of June 4, 1967. Only then we can proceed towards a just and
comprehensive peace. We call upon the United States to play its full role as an
honest broker and a cosponsor of the peace process. Pressure has to be exerted
in order to implement the resolutions of international legitimacy with all the
legitimate rights they dictate for the Lebanese, the Syrian and Palestinian
people.
We would like to stress here that we have the urge to reach a state of peace but
we are not ready to give up an inch of our territory nor do we accept our
sovereignty to be impinged upon. We would like to achieve peace because it is
our strategic choice and because the Syrian people have always been, through
history, peace lovers and because we would love to restore our beloved Golan
complete and because we want its people to go back to their homes, but we are
not ready to give up an inch of our territory nor to achieve peace at the
expense of our national sovereignty. Our brave people on the Golan will always
be today and tomorrow and for ever Arab Syrians because no matter how long it
might take this land will always be ours and will be returned complete to us one
day sooner or later. We are not prepared to pay the price of the helplessness of
the Israeli governments and their inability to make decisions that push the
peace process forward at the expense of our sovereignty and dignity. The ball of
peace which they throw at different courts according to their whims is a heavy
ball and carrying it needs statesmen who are able to make difficult decisions
and not just people in offices who carry this ball with them wherever they might
be and it moves around and they move with their political posts.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The policy of adhering to the principles of international legitimacy requires
the United Nations to carry out its mission as mentioned in its Charter in an
objective way and away from different points of influence that might limit the
implementation of these principles in the best way possible in order to reach a
world with no conflicts and no points of tension, a world where peace, justice
and democracy prevail among countries and in which dialogue is deepened and
broadened among different civilizations in the world of today. In addition to
this, the North rich countries should shoulder their human responsibilities
towards the countries of the South with the aim of reaching a more secure, a
more confident and as a result a more stable world. We look forward to building
the strongest relations with the states, peoples and international organizations
on the basis of mutual respect and constructive cooperation and the safeguarding
of international peace and security basing our relations on the rights of people
to self-determination in a way that secures their lively interest.
Brothers and Sisters.
As we are talking about every thing that concerns our people at the domestic as
well as external fronts we should not forget that there are the unknown soldiers
who do not exert efforts only but who pay with their souls without any price.
They are the sons of our military forces, the guardians of our country, the
source of our pride and the symbol of bravery and heroism who were and will
remain to be ready to defend our country and support our brothers. Our military
forces shall remain an example of honor, and perfect national and responsible
behavior and shall always remain the focus of our great attention in order to
remain able to carry out their duties whenever they are called upon. All our
love and appreciation to the members of our glorious army and our high respect
and loyalty to the innocent martyrs who fell in battles of honor and duty. I
shall not forget to mention our brave people on the Golan who cling tenaciously
to their country and their Arab nationality rejecting Zionist existence in all
its forms and we say to them we are with you and our steadfastness together is
the guarantee that our land will be liberated. In Lebanon, the brave national
resistance wrote the best anthem of heroism and martyrdom and shall always
remain in its path and achievement and example that will live long with future
generations. Our dear people, My trust in you is infinite and so is my love to
you. I hope you will allow me to emphasize to you a fact I feel that the man you
have known and loved some of his merits and exchanged trust and love with him
will not change at all once he assumes his post. He came out of the people and
lived with them and shall remain one of them. You may expect to see him every
where whether in the work place or on the streets or in your picnics in order to
learn from you and sharpen his determination by his contact with you and shall
work for you as he has always done. The man who has become a president is the
same man who was a doctor and an officer and first and foremost is the citizen.
May God bless you all.
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