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Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:8PM GMT

Interview with Danny Makki, cofounder of the Syrian Youth in Britain

I think it is not necessarily just a Syrian struggle. It is a global struggle. There is a geopolitical struggle within the region. So we can argue that there is a regional struggle and Syria is the source for this intensified regional struggle.”

A political analyst tells Press TV that there are numerous factors which have contributed to President Bashar al-Assad remaining in power and one of them is the support of his own people .

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Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

Press TV in its Middle East Today program has conducted an interview with Danny Makki, cofounder of the Syrian Youth in Britain, to further discuss the issue. The program also offers the opinion of two additional guests: Franklin Lamb, international lawyer and Osman Bakach, from Hizb Attahrir. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Mr. Makki, our two guests, if we look at the factors that they mentioned, we have maybe the weakness of the opposition, the fact that Assad has more popularity than some people perceive, the Russian support, the Chinese support and also the American hesitant to go or take the side of the armed opposition . Are all these the major factors which have enabled Assad to stay in power?

Makki: No I think there are numerous factors which have contributed to Assad remaining as firm as he was initially and one of them is the support of his own people .

There is obviously clear division within Syrian society but no one can doubt that there are a majority which supports the Syrian government even though if you might not have supported it before, have to an extent support it rather than crisis. And we can talk about Reuter’s article on the people of Aleppo how 70 percent of Aleppo even until now despite the war and despite the invasion by the armed groups still hold relative support for President Assad.

I think it is not necessarily just a Syrian struggle. It is a global struggle. There is a geopolitical struggle within the region. So we can argue that there is a regional struggle and Syria is the source for this intensified regional struggle.

To your guest Osman who said that the United States is supporting Assad, this is complete lunacy because the United States has been one of the biggest states throughout the Syria crisis who wanted the ousting of Assad.

They have funded and armed the opposition, they have called for Assad’s ouster, and they have made war against the Syrian state and against the Syrian population through inadvertent means by sanctions, by continuous political statements asking for the Syrian government to resign.

They had hold councils, meetings, conferences asking the Syrian government to leave power. They have been almost one of the greatest states who have had the influence in engaging international opinion to criticize the Syrian government on every single occasion.

It is almost the first time in history that we see American spokesman discussing almost every single diminutive of fact inside of Syria and this is what has led to this kind of propaganda issue which has been aimed at the Syrian President and the Syrian government.

The United States of America clearly seeks regime change. They clearly have wanted to get rid of the nationalist Arabism regime in Syria for the last 40 years and they are working for this at this current moment and time…

Press TV: Mr. Makki, how would you respond to what Mr. Bakach said that Syria being an enemy of Israel is a myth although we have to mention what Benjamin Netanyahu said back in June when he said that Iran, Hezbollah and Syria represent an “Axis of Evil”. So what do you think?

Makki: I think what your guest is saying is completely ridiculous as the whole world knows that Syria is a state which has been at least part of the resistance axis for the last 40 years. They are no way in need of the American line and their interests are not aligned with America.

He gave the example of Kuwait but I give the example of Hezbollah in 2006. How would America and the Syria’s interests be aligned when Syria is giving weapons to Hezbollah?

So this is completely ridiculous what he is saying. He discusses the concepts of an Islamic state. How can we have an Islamic state and a state which is so ethnically diverse, has so many different religions, has so many different sects…

For a state like Syria you can’t have a radical Islamist extremist movement which destroys Syria’s ethnic and religious and sectarian nature. This is what you are talking about.

We cannot develop and take ourselves back a precedent set one thousand years ago. There are different nations and sects and religions in Syria. We have to respect that. Syria has to remain a secular state.

Press TV: I just want to speak to you about Russia and China. How important, how instrumental was their role in enabling Bashar al-Assad to remain in power until now?

 

Makki: I think their support for the Syrian government has been essential in a sense that their triple vetoes were unprecedented. This has never happened before.

What they essentially did was send a strong message to the West and to imperialism that we will not support any policy of regime change. We have to support the sovereignty of states, we cannot have any interference or interventions military or even political interference in other states internal affairs based on the concept of secular state.

After Iraq, after Libya, after Afghanistan it seriously became time for Russia and China to constitute and create a new order which could act as a status quo to the existing social order in the current world.

So you could argue that Russia and China have been absolutely imperative to the survival of the Syrian government and have blocked any real policy taken by the Security Council which is under the auspices of the United States which seeks to destroy the Syrian government using the international law.

I think Russia especially, their support for the Syrian government has been overwhelming and they have taken an active role in allowing for the international order…

 

AHK/JR