17
Dec
2024
Watch
Toppling of the Syrian regime, its geopolitical implications and the humanitarian situation in the region (debate)
Mr President, we are witnessing a historic event: the cruel dictatorship of the Assads, especially now of Bashar al-Assad, who has suppressed Syrians for 54 years, has come to an end. Bashar al-Assad's autocracy has left irreparable pain in thousands of tortured, isolated, fled and abused people, whose only crime was to believe that a different Syria was possible. The expression of hundreds of people released from prisons must be the intolerable memory for any country in the world: Syria deserves to see the birth of the flowers that were sown during the Arab Spring and that were oppressed. We are facing the first resolution on the region since the beginning of this legislature and I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, to live up to this process: I ask you for unity, responsibility and accuracy in data and facts. We must vindicate the territorial integrity of Syria: Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights is again a violation of international law that jeopardizes the situation in the region, but we understand that they will withdraw later, which is a matter of security, and we believe that when there is stability everything will improve. We must vindicate the voice and role of the Syrian people in this transition and their right to decide: their independence must be respected in order to achieve a democratic system that will take time. We must claim the dignified life of people from empathy, and not from the express decrees for asylum applications that have been made in some European countries, because this is a bad message. I want to claim that it is fair to remember that repression did not distinguish between ethnic groups, minorities or religions, so we must protect minorities, majorities and women, a very important issue. This Parliament must not be selective and we must not make invisible a large part of the opposition, which are also secular forces: Not everyone is a radical Islamist, and you have to know how the opposition works. We hope that there will be an inclusive Government, which is the most important thing, and that it will also include women. We have a unique opportunity for the change of the nation: Kaja Kallas is making many diplomatic moves that are positive for the role that the European Parliament and the European Union should play in the Middle East.