Shara-Press conference
Foreign minister farouk al Shara held on Thursday a joint press conference with Belgian
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Luis Miche l,Spanish Minister of State for External
Affaires ,Miguel Nadal Segala,and EU High Representative for Policy and Common
Security Javier Solana,and EU Commissioner for External Relations.Christopher Patten.
At the beginning of the press conference alShara described the meeting between the
EU delegation with President Bashar al-Assad as very constructive and frank,indicating that the topic
discussed is known to all ,because what had happened in New York and Washington on
11th of Sept .was not an ordinary act or event.
He indicated : “All of us were shocked ,and we thought and we are still thinking how would
the world appear today and how would it look in the future, because 11th of Sept .was a turning
point in the history of the world .we sympathized with the victims of the tragic events and sent
our condolences to the families of the victims. The huge number of the victims gave a big lesson
to combat terrorism.”
Mr. AlShara stessed that President al-Assad was very clear in the view point he presented to the
EU delegation.We want to see this tragic event on 11th of Sept. as a turning point in the history of
the nations to the better and to not the worse and from ashes ,rubbles and darkness where we can see
light for the sake of humanity throughout the world.
He indicated that President Bashar al-Assad has stressed his support to the international efforts
to combating terrorism and his view point was explained as
follows:
Firstly, this campaign should be very clear and terrorism should be
specified and identified . Secondly
We cannot see a military action that causes the killing of civilians as targets instead of finding the
errorists to punish them.. Thirdly a framework of a U.N. is important for two reasons ,the first is
to combat terrorism and identifying it,and the second is that there are many Arab countries
have expressed the same view point .And last but not the least there should be no link between terrorism
And the Arab or Islamic world.
He added that although the US.administratration was clear on the highest levels with regard to the media ,the American public opinion and to the whole world,yet there is a big problem the moslems
and the Arabs are facing in the United States and in Europe, because we hope to cooperate together
with the EU to combat terrorism and not to cause the falling of victims and we expect not see
a conflict between civilizations. On the contrary we expect to see cooperation between civilizations.
For his part Michel stressed that there were points of agreements as well as points of disagreements
during the meeting with President alAssad and ofcourse this is normal ,”we cannot agree on everything but the atmosphere was positive and the dialogue was constructive and there is a great
space for understanding .
He stressed that the important message the EU delegation wants to convey is that there is no link
between the Arab and Islamic world with terrorism.
In his reply to a question regarding the possibility of Syria being targeted in the campaign ,Michel
Stressed that he would not answer the question ,indicating that any reaction should be substentiated
And there is no reason for Syria to be a target.
Mr. AlShara for his part stressed that during President alAssad’s meeting with the Eu delegation
Many points were discussed the most important of which is cooperation between Syria and the
Eu and this is based on the mutual understanding .indicating that Syria trusts the EU which would
Not take a hasty decision in combating terrorism.
A.N.Idilbi