Tausende Tote, schwere Menschenrechtsverletzungen, keine Bereitschaft zu Reformen: So lauten die Vorwürfe der westlichen Staaten an die Regierung Assad in Syrien. Im Gespräch mit Autor Jürgen Todenhöfer nimmt Assad dazu Stellung. tagesschau.de dokumentiert das Gespräch.
Jürgen Todenhöfer: Mr. President, members of the opposition and western politicians say, that you are the main obstacle for peace in Syria. Would you be ready to step down as president if this could bring peace to your country and stop the bloodshed?
Baschar al Assad: The president shouldn’t run away from challenge and we have a national challenge now in Syria. The president shouldn’t escape the situation, but from the other side you can stay as president, stay in this position only when you have the public support. So, answering this question should be answered by the Syrian people, by the election not by the president. I can nominate myself, I can run for the election or not run, but to leave or not to leave, this is about the Syrian people.
Todenhöfer: You think, you still have a majority behind you in your country?
Assad: If I have – if I don’t have a support in the public, how could I stay in this position? United States is against me, the West is against me, many regional powers and countries and the people against me, so, how could I stay in this position? The answer is, I still have a public support. How much, what the percentage is – this is not the question, I don’t have numbers now. Of course, in this position, in this situation you must have public support.
Todenhöfer: I’ve been to some of the demonstrations, even in Homs, in peaceful demonstrations. Isn’t it legitimate that people demand for more freedom, more democracy and less power in the hands of one family, less power in the hands of secret services?
Assad: Let’s correct the question first to have the correct answer. We don’t have power in the hand of a family. In Syria we have the state, we have institutions, maybe not the ideal institutions, but we don’t have a family to run the country. We have a state. This is first fault.
Now we can answer the first part. Of course they have the right, they have the legitimate right whether they are demonstrators or not. Not only demonstrators ask for freedom. Actually the majority of the people ask for reforms, political reforms, not freedom. We have freedom but not the ideal freedom. But the reform, let’s say, to have more participation in the power, in the government, in everything else in their country. This is legitimate. But the majority is not in the demonstrations. We have people who have demonstrated and who have not, but this is legitimate.
http://www.tagesthemen.de/ausland/gespraech-assad-englisch100.html
Todenhöfer: You think, you still have a majority behind you in your country?
Assad: If I have – if I don’t have a support in the public, how could I stay in this position? United States is against me, the West is against me, many regional powers and countries and the people against me, so, how could I stay in this position? The answer is, I still have a public support. How much, what the percentage is – this is not the question, I don’t have numbers now. Of course, in this position, in this situation you must have public support.
Todenhöfer: I’ve been to some of the demonstrations, even in Homs, in peaceful demonstrations. Isn’t it legitimate that people demand for more freedom, more democracy and less power in the hands of one family, less power in the hands of secret services?
Assad: Let’s correct the question first to have the correct answer. We don’t have power in the hand of a family. In Syria we have the state, we have institutions, maybe not the ideal institutions, but we don’t have a family to run the country. We have a state. This is first fault.
Now we can answer the first part. Of course they have the right, they have the legitimate right whether they are demonstrators or not. Not only demonstrators ask for freedom. Actually the majority of the people ask for reforms, political reforms, not freedom. We have freedom but not the ideal freedom. But the reform, let’s say, to have more participation in the power, in the government, in everything else in their country. This is legitimate. But the majority is not in the demonstrations. We have people who have demonstrated and who have not, but this is legitimate.
http://www.tagesthemen.de/ausland/gespraech-assad-englisch100.html