'How can Europe help with the emergence of a legitimate political order in Syria that is inclusive?'

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00The foreign ministers of France and Germany arrived in Damascus on Friday morning. The

00:04first visits by Western powers to Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime last month.

00:10Top French diplomat Jean-Noël Barrault called for a sovereign, stable and peaceful Syria.

00:16Barrault and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock will meet the country's interior

00:20Prime Minister Ahmad al-Sharei, who heads a government led by the radical Islamists of

00:25Hayat Tehrir al-Sham, which is designated a terrorist organization by the European Union.

00:31And for more on Syria, we can bring in Galip Dalay, who is Senior Consulting Fellow on the

00:35Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. Galip, how significant is this visit to

00:41Syria by the French and German foreign ministers? Well, indeed, it is a very significant visit,

00:49given how momentous the developments in Syria are. After more than half a century,

00:56we see the dynasty of the Assad family, the regime, is falling. And right now,

01:01the stability of Syria is not only a domestic matter, it is also a regional, European and

01:06international matter, because the question of Syrian security is intimate. It will have

01:11intimate implication on European security and European neighborhood security. So therefore,

01:16this is, first and foremost, making sure that there is an orderly political transition in Syria,

01:23and the new political order is not only delivering in terms of governance, but it's also inclusive

01:29in terms of its demographic makeup. So it is including all components of the Syrian state

01:34aside, and it's not only being driven by one group and being being imposed by one group,

01:41top down on the others. So therefore, the early on engagement is really crucial to push Syria in

01:48the right direction and to help these transitions for which millions of Syrians, first and foremost,

01:54are deserving these needs, but also the broader region deserving these needs, given the millions

01:58of the presence of Syrian refugees in neighboring states in Europe and elsewhere. Now, there is one

02:05particular obstacle, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, who are Syria's interim leaders, they're still designated

02:10a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, and the United Nations.

02:16Is this going to be a big obstacle to international relations for Damascus in the near future?

02:22Well, obviously, this is like a topic, it's a matter, so it's the designation question is

02:28going to be a quite significant question on the agenda. First, problem of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

02:34itself is going to dissolve itself in the upcoming period. And secondly, right now,

02:39the engagement is taking place with the interim government. The interim government in

02:44Damascus itself is not designated. What is being designated is the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

02:49as a group, but also Ahmed Shara as its leader. So right now, I think the crucial, the important

02:55thing is that basically to make sure that the international community sees on this political

03:02transition and doesn't sacrifice it for legal complexity, which cannot be resorted out very

03:09soon. But nevertheless, making sure that in the meantime, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or the Ahmed

03:15Shara also gets the message that this transition has to be inclusive and this transition is going

03:22to be, in a sense, premised on certain ideas and ideals that can be supported by everyone.

03:29So therefore, it's important to pass the message and important to help at the same time. So

03:37this question of designation is important, but it should not prevent the engagement.

03:42And European countries and Syria's new rulers do have common ground in the sense that the Syrian,

03:49new Syrian government wants Syrians living abroad to come back. And a lot of European

03:54countries who announced the suspension of asylum applications by Syrians in the days following

04:00Assad's fall have basically want an awful lot of Syrians to go home. But how can this be squared

04:07with the two countries designating Hayat Tahrir al-Sham a terrorist organization?

04:15I think that's quite unfortunate. That's quite an unfortunate instinct, because the first instinct

04:22is how to send the Syrians back. And unfortunately, Europe looking at the Syrian once again,

04:28primarily through the prism of sending Syrians back or the sending refugees back to Syria

04:34will skew its view of what is happening in Syria and at the broader region level.

04:39The Syria is, yes, many people, many Syrians probably would want to return back to their

04:44home country once there is a political order in place, once there is stability in place.

04:50But right now, basically right after the toppling of the regime, putting pressure on them or

04:57incentivizing them or suspending this asylum application altogether, making sure that the

05:05Syrians go back to Syria is really not the right response to give to this momentous development.

05:11Right now it should be the narrative should focus on an orderly political transition and

05:17inclusive political transition, the good governance, how Europe can help in this regard.

05:21So basically, how can Europe help the emergence of a legitimate political order in Syria that can

05:28deliver and that can also be inclusive? At the same time, if a Syrian of that kind emerged on

05:35the road, many Syrians themselves probably would want to go back to Syria. But right now,

05:40at this stage, putting the pressure on the refugees is not the right response and it's

05:45not the right start for this process. Syria still remains a country that has suffered from

05:52decades, a decade-long, more than a decade-long civil war, and the condition for return is not

05:58there. And even the condition for return needs a regional, international and European effort

06:03to be put in place before these people can go back to their country.

06:07Thank you very much for that, Ghalib Dallaeh,

06:09from the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

Category

Transcript

Recommended