Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
New York, SANA- Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem reiterated Syria’s rejection of any foreign interference in the work of the constitutional committee and of setting any timetable for it, affirming that Syria doesn’t want to discuss ready-made constitution, but it wants to draft the constitution an article by an article as the constitution will decide the future of Syria for the coming generations.
Interviewed by Russia Today TV Channel on Sunday on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly , al-Moallem said “When an article or two of any standing constitutions are amended, it becomes a new constitution it will be subjected to a referendum, and we didn’t only speak about discussing the current constitution, and we don’t exclude discussing a new constitution as these are the rules of procedures and they stipulate for that, and we are committed to them, thereby, before going to a new constitution, we should discuss the current one which has witnessed a popular approbation after a referendum.”
“But if we don’t reach an agreement with the other side, we don’t mind discussing another constitution, but not a ready-made one,” al-Moallem elaborated.
Al-Moallem noted that the principles published by the UN General Secretariat on Saturday which were distributed among the Security Council’s member states are what Syria abides by and it doesn’t accept any breach of them as it considers that forming the constitutional committee is significant achievement for the Syrian people.
He added that setting a timetable makes the process of drafting the constitution hasty, “and it is well-known that the constitution draws the road of the future for the current and coming generations, therefore, we want a clear, careful and modern constitution and we don’t want to rush in drafting it.”
Regarding the situation in Idleb, al-Moallem clarified that the Turkish regime hasn’t abide by its obligations according to the agreements of Astana and Sochi agreement as it continues to train and arm terrorists in a way that has allowed “Jabhat al-Nusra” terrorist organization to impose control over 90 percent of the area of Idleb province which includes the largest gathering of foreign terrorists in the world whose states reject to receive them again.
Al-Moallem reiterated Syria’s determination to liberate Idleb and all the Syrian territories from terrorism and the illegitimate foreign presence .
He refuted the allegations of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on using chemical weapons by the Syrian Arab Army in its war against terrorism, saying “The US is suffering from many internal problems due to the conflict between the republicans and the democrats and when the presidential elections and the Congress elections draw closer, these problems become deeper, therefore, the behaviors which it is trying to adopt in the international arena are an attempt to export its internal problems.”
Al-Moallem added that the campaign of lies launched by Pompeo to mislead the US and international opinion on the allegations of using the chemical weapon is unprecedented at all as when a foreign minister lies this means that it is a misleading campaign that aims at undermining the successes achieved by Syrian on the field and political tracks.
Al-Moallem asserted that the relation with Russia is deep-rooted and strategic as Russia has responded to the request of the Syrian Arab Republic to participate in the war against terrorism side by side with the Syrian Arab Army since Sep. 2015 and over that period, heavy losses have been inflicted upon terrorists and many lands have been liberated from terrorism, in addition to foiling all the US and Western attempts at the Security Council to undermine Syria.
He expressed hope that the economic relations between Syria and Russia will be up to their political and military relations, saying “I believe that these relations will be deepened and become varied in different domains.”
Answering a question on the change in the Western stance towards the return of relations with Syria, al-Moallem said “Many European states are willing to do that and they are communicating with us through parliamentary delegations, but they are afraid of the US anger, therefore, we don’t build hopes on a European role in improving relations, and I say that Europe as an economic capability is…huge…but it will remain a wooden sword.”
Commenting on Washington’s attempts to ignite crises and conflicts in the Gulf based on flimsy pretexts, al-Moallem said ” We seek to make the solution between Iran and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council “GCC” through dialogue, and we believe that the security of the Gulf should be owned by the its people and the states which have a shore on it, but we know that this isn’t possible as the US and the British fleets and maybe others are there under the pretext of protecting the freedom of navigation.”
Ruaa al-Jazaeri
