Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad said Monday that it is the duty of the People’s Assembly to be part of the transitional developmental stage that is linked to viewpoints about the role of the State and its institutions in general, policies and approaches, adding “all hopes would be put on the institution of the People’s Assembly, because it is the highest in any country.”
The President added in a press statement while casting his vote to the elections for members of the People’s Assembly “We are positive about any initiative to improve relations with Turkey, and this is the natural thing and no one is thinking to create problems with his neighbors, but this does not mean that we go to the meeting with Turkish President Erdogan without rules.”
“Within certain limits, the institution of People’s Assembly is governed by three systems, the first of which is the constitution, the Constitution is clear regarding the role of the People’s Assembly, second is the law which is also clear that it may need some amendments, like any law, there is no problem with this issue, but the problem does not lie in the law, from my point of view, the change and the problem is in the rule of procedures of the People’s Assembly because it is what determines the mechanisms which govern the role of this Assembly,” President al-Assad affrimed.
The President added that Personally, I speak as a Syrian citizen, the first thing I want from the People’s Assembly is to monitor policies.
“We cannot go smoothly during this stage and these difficult circumstances in Syria, the region and in the world if there was no national dialogue. The People’s Assembly is the most important institution for national dialogue, if you return to the rule of procedures… it would manage this process, process of dialogue, a dialogue within the Assembly,” President al-Assad elaborated.
As for relations with Turkey, President al-Assad said “I am not talking about a meeting between two presidents in general, and the meetings have not stopped and are continuing, there is a meeting to be arranged at the security level by some mediators, and we were positive… The Turkish Foreign Minister said that there are secret meetings and nothing is secret for us in Syria, everything is announced. When there is a meeting, we will announce it. There is nothing secret, but we did not see results because there was no political will.”
“If we ask what is the reference of the meeting, will this reference be cancellation or ending the causes of the problem, which is represented by support for terrorism and withdrawal from Syrian territories… this is the essence of the problem, there is no other reason, so if there is no discussion regarding this essence, what does meeting mean, if we seek work that achieves results, we are not against any procedure or meeting, the important thing is to reach positive results that achieves the interest of Syria and Turkey’s at the same time,” the President added.
“Occupation, terrorism, breach of the international law, disrespect for the sovereignty of neighboring and non-neighboring countries are all abnormal, and when the abnormal things are uprooted, the relation will be normal,” the President said.
About any guarantees from the mediating countries that can lead to resolving some requirements, the President said that no guarantees have been offered to us and “we are moving forward positively, but based on clear principles, not only principles, the principles are the international law and sovereignty… but we need a specific methodology to ensure that what we are doing will lead to positive results, otherwise, the results will be negative.
Earlier, President al-Assad cast his vote to the People’s Assembly elections at one of the polling stations in Damascus
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