The European-Atlantic Group, the Carlton Club, London<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am delighted and honoured to be speaking here today. I would like to thank the European-Atlantic Group for inviting me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSiria es un pa\u00eds precioso\u201d. Eso es lo que todo el mundo dice cuando regresa de una visita. Y es verdad; nuestras monta\u00f1as, lugares hist\u00f3ricos, pueblos y playas son lugares maravillosos. Adem\u00e1s, la reciente llegada de nuevos hoteles y restaurantes en Damasco puede dar la impresi\u00f3n de una econom\u00eda en auge. Pero bajo esta brillante fachada se esconde una oscura realidad. S\u00ed, una oscura realidad. Una de las razones por las que estoy aqu\u00ed hoy es para arrojar luz sobre los rincones oscuros del pa\u00eds que amo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to highlight the terrible abuses of human rights. I want to expose the corruption. I want to be the voice of all those who have been silenced. I want to campaign for a free, democratic, pluralist Syria that doesn\u2019t depend on Iran and have its future dictated by it. The relationship should be based on equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want my baby son to grow up knowing a Syria that is strong, free, democratic, peaceful and prosperous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the current regime came to power there were tentative hopes that they would liberalise and repeal the worst excesses of the state. These hopes were short-lived, and those that criticised the regime soon found out that the oppressions of the past had not been swept away. They had simply been put on hold, ready to be redeployed at the government\u2019s will. The regime has reverted to press censorship, secret detention and violations of human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So where does the regime get its confidence? Perhaps it gets it from America\u2019s renewed diplomatic efforts. Perhaps it gets it from its close relationship with Iran. It performs a balancing act between the West and Iran. It welcomes American diplomatic envoys in the morning, and then receives members of the Iranian regime in the evening. The Syrian regime should not be fooled by Iran\u2019s intentions. Through the prism of the Arab \/ Israeli conflict, Iran\u2019s aim is to use proxy groups to exercise greater influence and control in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ir\u00e1n ha extendido sus tent\u00e1culos a lo largo y ancho. Financia, arma, entrena y controla grupos islamistas de todo el espectro en Oriente Medio. El discurso de Ir\u00e1n a los \u00e1rabes es que ayudaremos a liberar las tierras \u00e1rabes. Tambi\u00e9n utiliza el pretexto de ayudar a los chiitas \u00e1rabes para desarrollar a\u00fan m\u00e1s la hegemon\u00eda iran\u00ed en toda la regi\u00f3n, al mismo tiempo que oprime a sus propios ciudadanos chiitas en casa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran uses its proxies to ferment trouble in the Middle East every time it believes it is close to facing sanctions from the international community. Iran portrays itself as the leader of the so called \u2018resistance\u2019. Yet when Lebanon, Syria and Gaza were attacked at different times over the last few years there was no sign of Iran. This is why Iran\u2019s allies should not be fooled and realise that they are being used as bargaining chips in any future negotiations regarding Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Syria has been ruled under emergency law since 1963. This \u201csecurity measure\u201d has acted as a smoke-screen that allows the regime to arrest and detain its opponents with breathtaking ease. This state of affairs cannot go on. The emergency law must be lifted immediately, and civil society must be allowed to exercise its rights of association and expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dictatorships breed corruption. Corruption breeds poverty. Poverty breeds ignorance. Ignorance breeds extremism. Extremism breeds terrorism<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This chain must be broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how can this come about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He creado la Organizaci\u00f3n para la Democracia y la Libertad en Siria. ODFS. A trav\u00e9s de la ODFS, crearemos conciencia no solo de los problemas que enfrenta Siria, sino tambi\u00e9n de las esperanzas que existen para un futuro mejor. Si podemos desempe\u00f1ar un peque\u00f1o papel en el inicio de un debate sobre el futuro de mi pa\u00eds, tanto en Siria como en el extranjero, habremos logrado cierto \u00e9xito.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would like all groups who genuinely believe in democracy to join our campaign to bring democracy and Freedom to Syria. There are Islamist groups who say they believe in democracy but are not willing to tolerate people who do not share their beliefs. They deem such people to be infidels. One of their core beliefs is Jihad against infidels. They think that the time is ripe for them to come to power because of the discontent amongst the Arab people. Therefore the pretext of democracy is perfect for them to play to the western gallery. The West should not be fooled by the wolf in the sheep\u2019s clothing because as soon as they come to power they would be no different from the Iranian regime. The solution is to educate and economically empower the masses over a transitional period so they have the hope of a better future and therefore are not vulnerable to these Islamist groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m going to say a few words about peace in the Middle East. People all over the world desire peace, security and prosperity. For peace to be real and lasting in the Middle East it must have solid foundations. It is vital to have a land for peace deal where all the Golan Heights are returned to Syria. The Syrian regime must concede that peace is only likely to be achieved if the regime moves towards national unity, disengages from Iran and returns to its Arab home. It is imperative that there is a two state solution with a viable, independent and democratic state of Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ODFS will publish research papers. We will write articles. We will speak to journalists, policy makers and commentators. We will monitor human rights violations. We will give a voice to those that have had their voices robbed. And we will do it calmly, accurately and without fear or favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some will say that Syria is on the mend. Some will point to trendy new bars and hotels. Some may say that Syria is liberalising. To coin a phrase, I say that we see the fig-leaf of democracy clothing the nakedness of absolutism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to connect with ordinary Syrians through the media platforms I have to inform and educate them about peaceful transition, civil society and democracy. Syrians must be empowered to decide their future. The West must implement policies that help Syria move towards democracy, freedom, prosperity and disengagement from Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Syria deserves a new, democratic constitution. It deserves guaranteed equal rights and freedom under the law for all religions, peoples and minorities. It deserves a free media and it deserves a truly democratic process to enable it to determine its own future. The time for democratic change is now.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European-Atlantic Group, the Carlton Club, London I am delighted and honoured to be speaking here today. I would like to thank the European-Atlantic Group for inviting me. \u201cSyria is a beautiful country.\u201d This is what everyone says when they return from a visit. And it\u2019s true; our mountains, historic places, villages and beaches are […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speeches"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7617,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616\/revisions\/7617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/odf-syria.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}