Exclusive Interview | Former culture minister Riyad Nassan Agha: “forming transitional ruling authority is the solution…regime elections are not internationally recognized…the constitutional committee hasn’t presented anything
Exclusive Interview | Former culture minister Riyad Nassan Agha: “forming transitional ruling authority is the solution…regime elections are not internationally recognized…the constitutional committee hasn’t presented anything
While the Syrian regime has been preparing for running the presidential election scheduled on May 26, the opposition continues to stress the illegality of the elections that have been announced as unrecognized by several western powers.
The Syrian opposition believes that the solution in Syria will be merely achieved by forming a transitional ruling authority and applying the UN resolutions that ensure the peaceful and smooth transfer of power.
In an exclusive interview with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, former culture minister and prominent Syrian opposition activist Riyad Nassan Agha has spoken about the importance of speeding up the political solution via forming a transitional ruling authority deeming the coming presidential elections as illegal and conflicts with the UN resolutions.
Questions: What are the prominent mistakes of the “Syrian Revolution” and the obstacles that hindered its success?
Answer: Since the beginning of the revolution, the regime’s shooting on the peaceful protestors which led to the death of dozens in the public square and at the doors of mosques, the gathering points on Fridays, was the most horrible mistake.
With escalation of such mistakes (series of crimes), the youth were obligated to defend themselves, and the regime reacted by militarizing the revolution and advertising the protestors as gangs of armed terrorists.
The military escalations have continued until the regime crushed millions of protesters either by murder, arrest. In addition, regime forces have displaced half of the Syrian people.
Another grave mistake was the using of religious and sectarian slogans, unlike the revolution original principles, some of which were tucked to present the revolution as a gathering of hardline Islamists. Other slogans were raised to oppose the sectarian ones that were promoted by Hezbollah as a kind of historical revenge against the Sunni.
The revolution experienced other major mistakes like being submissive to the willing of the world’s major powers that have prevented the opposition factions from uniting in one body. The oppositions faction were forced to accept the major powers’ instructions because of their need to the military and financial support.
Involvement of ideologies in the revolution path was also a mistake, and neither the protesters nor the opposition activists have found a unified leadership for the revolution, while some countries have deepened the elements of divisions.
As for the obstacles, the most dangerous one was the deceiving situations of some countries who showed support for the people and the revolution while they sought to abort the revolution.
The major powers have prevented the protesters to own any of the anti-aircraft system which left the people under no cover against the enemies strikes, so that they weren’t able to protect themselves. The resulting comprehensive destruction has forced the Syrians to migrate or brace the sea in search of shelter and has enabled the regime to restore many of the out-of-control areas.
The emergence of ISIS and similar groups was also a desastrous obstacle that even caused change in the world public sympathized opinion regarding the revolution.
The revolution’s enemies exploited the media advertisement to export the revolution as an ISIS and extremists-affiliated uprising. On the other hand, the state of division and conflict among the opposition forces was a mistake that deviated the revolution compass away from the opposition and the protesters’ plans. The revolution’s enemies have dismantled the opposition unity until it was healed again in the first conference of Riyadh.
Question: You said in a newspaper interview that the river of blood wouldn’t stop by kissing the mustaches, and that it will stop only when the demands of the protesting people are met, most important of which was freedom, via making a radical change and building a democratic civil country that allows the transfer of power via integral elections. After the death of thousands, displacement and migration of millions and the absence of tens of thousands of the Syrian people, do you think a dream of building a multi-party state has turned into a nightmare plaguing the Syrians who associated it with the creation of blood, militarization, murder and migration?
Answer: It’s imperative to build a civil non-sectarian country that preserves genuine multilateralism in light of the constitution, laws and the principle of citizenship, without which stability and security wouldn’t be achieved and conflicts will last in Syria for further decades.
The enormous sacrifices that the Syrian have provided form the real motivation to the revolution continuity until achieving its objectives. Those sacrifices could take the revolution in a direction of political and rights struggle in the incoming period.
Question: The regime prepares to run for the elections that are described by the opposition as “illegal and unconstitutional” because it will be run in accordance with the old constitution issued in 2012. In your opinion what is the destiny of the elections?
Answer: The elections, in case that it continues amid the current conditions, will not change the internal and international political scene.
Question: Do you think that the running the elections according to the 2012’s constitution puts an end to the role of the Syrian constitutional committee?
Answer: There is no role for the constitutional committee, it is a waste of time.
Question: Has the UN mediation led to achieving real accomplishments at the level of constitutional reform, given the fact that a year passed over the conflicting work of the constitutional committee assigned to write a new constitution that suits the Syrian people and revolution.
Answer: The constitutional committee has not and will not present anything. The committee has been all along ineffective, and it has only expanded the time until the regime finds a chance to run for the elections based on the 2012 constitution. The most strange matter in this election is that the Damascus delegation in the committee doesn’t represent the Syrian government and the government will not be biding the outcomes reached.
Question: Do you think that keeping Bashar al-Assad in power is a regional and international consensus choice?
Answer: Most of the world’s countries have announced non-recognition of the election legitimacy, and the international society insists on implementing the UN resolution and finding a political solution.
Question: There are movements by Arab and western powers to confuse the Syrian situation and continuous calls for restructuring the opposition after ten years of war. Do you think the opposition really needs to be restructured and its political presentation needs to be arranged? Why the opposition up to date has not managed to reach political settlement despite imposing control on several key areas since 2012?
Answer: Yes, the opposition needs critical reviews and institutional restructuring. It hasn’t succeeded in reaching a settlement that could not be achieved by one party, and the regime insists on the military solution and has not entered any serious negotiations.
Question: Can Syria exit the trench of opposition and loyalists that have destroyed the revolution objectives?
Answer: The road to a settlement is obvious. It could be achieved by forming a transitional ruling authority, paving the way to a transitional justice stage, enabling the non-sectarian government to end the division between the supporters and opposers.
Question: The opposition activists say that Syria’s current problem that the country is suffering from at all levels does not lie in the presence of minority, majority or the control of a certain group, sect, culture, or religion, however it lies in the military elite who has been in power for decades, do you agree with that?
Answer: No one denies that the rule in Syria is a military one that has built a security state, while the objective of the revolution is to build a civil state.
Question: Do you think forming a military council is a practical idea and could it solve the situation in Syrian?
Answer: What we need today is a civil transitional ruling authority that could include a military council for preserving the security and restructuring the army and the security services based on national criteria.