Interview given by H.E. President Bashar al-Assad to BBC News, following is the full text:
Welcome to a BBC News Special. I am Jeremy Bowen. I am in Damascus, in the Presidential Palace, the complex which overlooks Damascus city; and here we have been interviewing the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.
Question 1: Mr. President, you’ve lost control of large areas of Syria. The jihadist group that calls itself Islamic State has emerged. There are perhaps 200,000 Syrians dead, millions have lost their homes. The UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has called this the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world since the Second World War. Has Syria become a failed state?
President Assad: No, as long as the government and the state institutions are fulfilling their duty towards the Syrian people, we cannot talk about failed states. Talking about losing control is something completely different. It’s like if you have an invasion of terrorists coming from abroad, and the government is doing its job in fighting and defending its country.
Question 2: Can we briefly go back to when all this started in 2011? You said that there were mistakes made in the handling of those early demonstrations. Did you make mistakes yourself?
President Assad: No, I never said we made mistakes in handling this. I always say that anyone could make mistakes, but there’s a difference between-
Question 3: Did you make mistakes?
President Assad: There is a difference between talking, or asking your question, about policies and about practice. There’s a big difference. If we go back to polices, we took the decision to fight terrorism from the very beginning, we took the decision to make dialogue on the national level, and I think those policies are correct. While, if you want to talk about mistakes in practice and that some mistakes were committed towards some civilians, that happened from time to time, and some people were punished for these mistakes.
Question 4: But you didn’t make mistakes personally in the handling of the crisis?
President Assad: I said every person makes mistakes every day, otherwise if you deny the mistakes; you deny the human nature of the people.
Question 5: You talked about the influence of terrorism, as you called it, from the very beginning, but I was able as a reporter to go to some of those early demonstrations inside Damascus, in areas outside as well, and people there were not saying they wanted an Islamic caliphate. They were saying they wanted freedom, democracy, not the kind of vision that IS have now for the country. Do you think you’ve got it wrong?