Syria, 2011

Allow me to congratulate Mr. Nassir

Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his election to the presidency

of the General Assembly at this session. I wish him

every success in his efforts to promote the interests of

our international Organization. I also pay tribute to his

predecessor, Mr. Joseph Deiss, and express to him our

gratitude and appreciation for his successful presidency

of the Assembly last year.

It is only natural that I should start by addressing

the current situation in Syria, our position in that

regard and the circumstances and events unfolding

inside and outside of our country. There is no doubt

that States’ positions and circumstances are governed

by their geopolitical realities, related problems and

demands stemming therefrom. At the same time, they

are influenced by repercussions and the price they have

to pay, whether high or low, resulting from positions

they take in response to those issues.

The Syrian Arab Republic is located at the heart

of the Middle East region. Syria’s location has

determined its major role in the politics and balances

of the Arab world and the region in general. For many

decades, Syria faced major challenges and difficulties

with a firm stance against attempts to limit its role and

influence and divert it from the national course it had

charted. It is no secret that Syria has stood firm in

support of national sovereignty and independence in its

national decisions — a position that has remained a

primary pillar of Syrian foreign policy.

Syria has spared no effort in support of the

legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people and in

championing resistance movements. Syria has upheld

its inalienable right to liberate the entire occupied

Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967. At the same

time, Syria has extended a hand of friendship to all

States and established its international relations based

on mutual respect and mutual interests. Through

leverage, it has promoted the centrepiece of Syria’s

national priorities and established policies, namely on

the Middle East question, in efforts to liberate the land

and restore the rights of the people.

Syria was dragged into another confrontation

following the occupation of Iraq. It had to choose

between enduring political siege and isolation or

submitting to demands. Again Syria summoned all of

its might to overcome such a policy, despite the

exorbitant price we had to pay at the expense of our

domestic priorities and interests. We emerged stronger

from that battle, having preserved our independent

decisions and safeguarded our national priorities.

There are two sides to the problem that Syria

faces today. On the one hand, the country needs

people-driven political, economic and social reform.

President Bashar Al-Assad has already declared that

those reforms are needed and timely. He has expressed

a strong desire to accomplish them. But the force of the

political circumstances to which I briefly alluded to

earlier forced internal demands — important as they

were — to take a back seat to other priorities. Our

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overriding priority was to address external pressures

that at times were tantamount to blatant conspiracy.

On the other hand, popular demands and needs

have been manipulated to further objectives alien to the

interests and expressed desires of the Syrian people.

Those demands have become stepping stones used by

armed groups to sow discord and to sabotage our

security, eventually becoming a new pretext for foreign

intervention.

Syria has assumed its responsibility to protect its

citizens through actions to guarantee safety and

stability. It remains vigilant against the danger of

foreign intervention, which takes on different forms

with each passing day. Challenging that does not

diminish our concern for popular demands that were

already accommodated prior to the recent events. In

our view, the needed reforms are those that are now

due, many elements of which have been already met.

They are a work in progress that will continue through

national dialogue and in the context of national unity,

sovereignty and independence.

To shed more light on the situation, I would recall

at this juncture the statement made by President

Al-Assad on 20 June. In his statement, the President

announced many reform measures based on the

following new laws: the political parties act to

guarantee political pluralism; the information act to lay

the ground for free and independent media; the

parliamentary elections act and the local administration

act. The proposed reform measures were to be finalized

by a thorough examination and review of the Syrian

Constitution. The review could eliminate certain

articles to allow for political pluralism and democratic

practices. It could even lead to the framing of a new

Constitution that would guarantee all of these things.

The constitution is the backbone of the political,

economic and social life of all States. That reform

measure will definitely respond to popular demands

and needs. Furthermore, the President left the door

open to different views and proposals on the reform

effort in general. In the televised interview that

followed, the President announced that a timeline had

been set to agree on and implement the proposed

reforms in no more than six months. That is an

extremely important position that requires a serious, in-

depth national dialogue in order to achieve the desired

mechanisms and results.

A comprehensive dialogue started a few weeks

ago in various Syrian governorates. Representatives of

various sectors of Syrian society, including opposition

figures, are participating in the process to examine the

comprehensive political, economic and social

components of the proposed reform package.

We deeply regret the surge in foreign-inspired

activities of armed groups in Syria, which have not

waned and have instead continued to gain momentum.

That is the other side of the coin. We would have liked

for those countries that advocated the need for reform

and change to have supported the official Syrian

position instead of having opted for incitement and

defiance. In fact, the more ground we have covered

towards stability and reform, the stronger the foreign

incitement has become. Armed violence has surged in

tandem with multiple economic sanctions. By targeting

the Syrian economy with sanctions, the United States

and the European Union have jeopardized the interests

and basic daily subsistence needs of the Syrian people.

This course of action cannot in any way be

reconciled with pronouncements about concern for the

interests, security and rights of the Syrian people.

Furthermore, it runs counter to the basic principles of

human rights, in defence of which those States base

their interference in our internal affairs. It must be

recalled that the Charter of our Organization states that

“Nothing contained in the present Charter shall

authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters

which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction

of any state”.

Syria provided our region with a model of

peaceful coexistence among the different segments of

the Syrian population, a model which deserves to be

emulated. Syria opted for secularism to promote its

national unity in view of the religious and ethnic

diversity of the region to which it belongs, a region

that is the cradle of divine religions and the birthplace

of human civilization.

Any objective and realistic analysis of the events

in and around Syria will demonstrate clearly that one

of the purposes of the unjust anti-Syria campaign

currently under way is to attack this model of

coexistence, which has been a source of pride to our

people. How can we otherwise explain media

provocations of financing and arming religious

extremism? What purpose could that serve other than

total chaos, which would dismember Syria — and

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consequently adversely affect its neighbours? What

else could this course of action achieve other than to

spread Western hegemony throughout the countries of

the Mediterranean and to serve Israel’s expansionist

interests?

I assure the Assembly that our people are

determined to reject all forms of foreign intervention in

their internal affairs. We shall continue to achieve

security and stability and to implement the

comprehensive programme of reform through national

dialogue so that, within months, Syria will become a

model of political pluralism and an oasis for peaceful

coexistence among the different segments of its

population.

From this rostrum, I call on the States that have

participated in the unjust campaign against Syria to

reconsider their positions. To them I say, “Our people

will not let you implement your plans and will foil

your schemes”.

I also express our appreciation to the countries

that have stood by our people’s side in this crisis,

pre-empting any harm that could have befallen their

interests and encouraging them to pursue their

aspirations.

For many years, the international community has

considered the two-State solution as the basis for

establishing peace between the Israelis and the

Palestinians. The negotiations between the two sides

that have continued for years have failed to achieve

any progress towards a solution owing to Israel’s well-

known positions and measures. Therefore, the

international community’s pursuit of the recognition of

a Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories

occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, is

legitimate. It is a positive step towards restoring all

Palestinian rights. Syria calls on the international

community to support that request. We also condemn

the Israeli blockade of Gaza and call on the

international community to shoulder its responsibility

and force Israel to lift the blockade.

Our position on declaring the Middle East a

nuclear-weapon-free zone is well established and well

known. We continue to call for bringing pressure to

bear on Israel to implement international resolutions

that have called on it to accede to the Treaty on the

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to

submit its nuclear facilities to the International Atomic

Energy Agency’s comprehensive safeguards regime.

This measure is of extreme importance to the security

and stability of our region. At the same time, we stress

that all States have the right to acquire nuclear

technologies for peaceful purposes. That right is

guaranteed under the NPT.

We strongly renew the call to lift the embargo

that has been enforced against Cuba for decades.

We all aspire to a more just and secure world.

This international Organization has a major role to play

in that regard. It can do so more competently if some

powerful States gave up attempts to further their own

agendas. Nevertheless, we still hope that the

international community, through this Organization,

will be able to follow the right course so as to bring

about a better world, to which our peoples aspire.