Thank you. Thank you, Fred, and Sedalin. It's great to be here. You just came from a meeting with the president and leaders across the region, and we're honored to have you here taking the time. We met briefly about a year or so ago with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and it's great to see you again.
Challenges. I'd like to start, Mr. President, if I can, because we're here in New York City on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and a question that I know many would want me to ask you, just given your background and the extraordinary evolution you've gone through. In 2013, you pledged allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda at the time, of course, was a mastermind of that attack. Since then, when you reorganized your armed forces, you moved away from that affiliation. But I just want to give you the opportunity — we're here in New York City on this anniversary — to describe your evolution, give you the opportunity to renounce that former pledge of allegiance, and just how you have changed since that time, now that you're in this extraordinary role.
Maybe last year we met with General Petraeus, and we had an engagement in the battlefield, and then we had an engagement in the field of dialogue. And this is good — this year that you were on the other side, on a political arena, and today we are together in this discussion. So I believe this is a success of this track. First of all, talking about 9/11 — I had nothing to do with that. At the time I was 13 years old. I didn't know anything about this stuff. Of course, I am sorry for all the victims who perished in the United States, or those who had fallen in the Middle East because of the policies that were pursued there that victimized a lot of people. So for sure, we are completely disengaged from what happened then, and that act or action that took place in New York.
Will you renounce that former pledge of allegiance? Not you personally, but you as the leader of Syria, Ahmed Al-Sharaa — what you said in 2013. Do you renounce that ideology, that former pledge of allegiance that you gave? It's a question that people ask, and I wanted to ask it just directly to you.
There are so many questions that are part of the past now. So maybe we need to update ourselves. So I answered this question so many times before, and now I repeat the question. I don't believe that it is the appropriate time to discuss things that happened 25 years ago. I was in a different age, and the conditions in the region were different, and they were pushing a lot of young people to go into that direction because of the pressure in that region. And then so many events happened, and then the Syrian revolution happened, and I evolved with the levels of awareness. This, of course, the reason and the root cause that pushed us to do that was to lift the injustice that people and the grievances that people were going through. You know, one of that was the injustice of the former regime that ruled Syria for the past 60 years. And of course, it was the worst terrorist crime that was perpetrated against the Syrians for 60 years, that included bombing, detention, gassing people with chemical weapons, and killing people under torture. So I was part of this action. So lifting that injustice is a noble act that any person would be honored to do.
What happened, especially amidst the conditions that are taking place right now in the region.
Let me ask you, Mr. President, about the foundation of any transition like this — is security for the people, and building a security force after the fall of a regime is extraordinarily difficult. I just — as you're building out this national force, 30,000 foreign fighters came into Syria during the civil war. We had a terrible incident a year ago where a member of the internal security forces killed two US soldiers and an interpreter. I'm just — your approach to building out the national forces and the vetting process that goes into it, to ensure that your security personnel are serving all the people, and that if an American soldier, any Syrian citizen is next to a member of your security forces, they can trust them. It's a critical question of trust. Just your views on actually building out that force and the vetting that goes into this process, particularly if anything's changed since that incident a year ago with the terrible incident with the two US soldiers.
The place or the location where the American forces were present — it was an area that was under control of ISIS before. So that area was purified from that. So there was a security incident, just as such incidents happened in several areas in the world. So of course, the security building in Syria is going through several levels or several degrees. First of all was dismantling the factions and unifying the weapons under the umbrella of the state, and to be under one army and under the state. And then we started vetting and checking the standards for accepting new soldiers to be under the Ministry of Defense and in the Syrian army, and also they were part of training camps in order to make sure of those conditions. At the same time, we had the duty to protect the country from the collapse of the country after the fall of the regime. So we attracted a large number of people who wanted to become soldiers quickly, without having that high level of conditions, in order not to have this vacuum in Syria at the time. So we were working on both sides at the same time. So we were building training camps at the same time. We were trying to fill that vacuum. So in any transition, there might be this default, and we might have incidents. So that wasn't the only incident. There were several similar incidents, but they were not with American soldiers. They were in different places, even within the Syrian security or Syrian army, such incidents happened. So we also came beyond that degree or that level after one year and a half, and now we are at the level of professionalism in the security forces and good coordination, and there are some countries that are helping us in training our security forces to become a professional force.
Mr. President, let me follow up a little bit on that. As you think about, again, going through this transition and the power between Damascus and the 14 governors — you have a constitutional declaration that doesn't say that much about the governor. Appointments are very much held at the center, from you and your government. And I'm just — as you look ahead, one thing I hear is concern about appointments from the center perhaps not reflecting the local community, particularly in the security file. And as you undergo this transition, how do you see the evolution of power between the center and the governance, which can make a transition go wrong? I've seen this in other circumstances. It's a critical question I hear from many Syrians. I know you have strong views on it. When you look at the power of the governor — it's a governor, local security officials versus the centralization. How do you see that evolution over the coming months?
I sit down with so many Syrians, and they don't ask this question. Anyway, in Syria, we have an old law. When we arrived in Damascus, we didn't abolish all the laws that were there in Syria. So there was the law of local administration that gave authority or powers to governorates in certain ways and in certain limits. This law 107 — it was a presidential decree that was ratified in the People's Assembly, and it was in place in Syria. Now, I'm not in a place to evaluate that law, whether it was good or not, but we are implementing the laws that we have now, then we're going to improve those laws through the People's Assembly. There are wide powers for the governorates in the election of the municipal councils, etc., etc., and then the governors are appointed by the president as per the law. Now, the People's Assembly that is in session, that was elected a couple of months ago, as part of its task is to review so many laws that are in place in the country in order to improve the situation in the country and to have laws that are up to date.
And the transition process laid out in the constitutional declaration talks about a five-year transition process with the constitution and getting to elections. Do you feel that you're on track for that? Will we see a constitutional committee formed by the National Assembly over the coming months? How do you see that moving ahead?
Part of the agenda — once again, we are going through several phases. The first phase was making sure that the security situation is in place and it is good. And then we had an inclusive national conference that included different parts of Syria. And then that led to the constitutional declaration, and also a cabinet that was also representative of the different denominations of Syria. And of course, we wanted not to go into a quota-sharing system in Syria that will lead to the division of the country on ethnic backgrounds, or geographical, or religious background, just as what happened in Iraq. So that's what we wanted to have. We wanted to differentiate between participation in power and the share-taking in power, or the quota-taking on different backgrounds, whether the ethnicity or school of thought or religion. And so we had different portfolios for different ministers based on the sharing of power. And then we went into the election of the People's Assembly. It was not perfect elections, but it was appropriate for the phase. And then the People's Assembly started its first sessions, and today they are doing hearing sessions to ministers in order to question some of the things that are taking place. And then now the People's Assembly is going to appoint a committee that is going to review the different laws in Syria, and another committee that will start drafting the constitution. And I believe that will be completed before the end of the five years.
Sticking on Syria, and then we'll turn to the region. Mr. President, I see Ambassador Barak, and it's great to have you here and all the work you're doing, and the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Northeast, and you've made some strides. Your Decree 13 about Kurdish rights inside Syria — I think it's an extraordinary document. And yet there are still some serious concerns and incidents. We had an incident in HCA about a couple of weeks ago where a Kurdish member of the security forces was tragically killed. And I'm just — as those types of events happen, Mr. President, how do you work with leaders in the local area to try to diffuse tensions, to make sure that these incidents don't become communal divisions and worsen things? And if I got one follow-up on that — there's a big debate about Kurdish language rights and teaching the national curriculum in Kurdish. I know this is something that is ongoing. I just welcome your views on it, but it gets to the larger question of ensuring that the diversity of Syria and all the local communities have a real stake and a say in the future that you're leading.
First, we need to know that we are living in a country that is very diverse in terms of religion, culture, and ethnicities for thousands of years, and things have been going on very well, very good, very well. And Syria is a role model in the world in terms of the coexistence of the diversity of the different groups. What happened in the past 14 years, and what happened in the past 60 years under the former regime that relied on terrorizing denominations and minorities by the majority, etc. — that had a negative impact, but that was a partial impact. Kurds are part of the Syrian society, and they are living in the state. And after the agreement that we reached with them, now the state is in control of almost the entirety of Syrian territories, especially the areas that were under control of SDF. The integration was great. I believe that before this integration, we issued a decree, because this is a duty and it is a right for the Kurds who are living in Syria to recognize their cultural rights, linguistic rights in Syria. Of course, the details are under the technical teams in the Ministry of Education and how this decree is going to be implemented at the end of the day. We agreed that the Kurds, or Kurdish-inhabited areas, are going to learn in Kurdish language, and I believe this decree was received very well and it was welcomed happily, because after 100 years the Kurds had their rights recognized thanks to the Syrians and thanks to their patience and this government, to be part of the Syrian society in order to live with other Syrians peacefully and securely. Now, the integration that has happened was about a different group or a faction, and we're not talking about the Kurdish community. So this differentiation is very important. We are talking about a group that was armed and that is not representative of the entire Kurdish people.
Would you envision, Mr. President, that Decree 13 being incorporated into the constitution or the constitutional declaration, which is something I think you could do, and I think would give it a real foundational element?
For sure. It will be part of the constitution. It is already in place and in force, and the work is going on based on that decree.
Mr. President, on the region — I know you just came from this meeting with regional leaders and the president, and you live in such a difficult neighborhood. So let me ask about some of the issues that I'm sure you're dealing with. One is Lebanon. There's still a million Syrians living in Lebanon, refugees. And I've heard President Trump a number of times say that Syria might be able to play a role against Hezbollah. I'm curious about your relationship with President Aoun and kind of what you discuss with him, and what you see as Syria's role in helping to stabilize Lebanon and helping President Aoun strengthen the sovereignty of Lebanon.
The Syrian ideas that we have is to empower the Lebanese government to have better institutions, and to empower their institutions also to have the state taking control over all the weapons in the Lebanese state, and not to have any weapons working or functioning outside the rule of law or the Lebanese state as well. At the same time, also to improve the Lebanese society and economic conditions there, in order also to overcome the problems that the Syrian regime caused in Lebanon. So we are engaging government.
Best mechanism for political reform and the implementation of the Taif Accord to be well implemented in Lebanon.
Do you see Syria having a role when it comes to — sure, Mr. President — Syria's role before the regime fell? Syria was a conduit for everything Iran wanted to do in Lebanon. Syria's role for helping Lebanon actually stand on its feet and helping to weaken the influence of Iran and Hezbollah. I'm just curious, what do you see as Syria's role there? Is there a role — I mean, I'll tell you, because since President Trump says it's something — is there a role for Syrian armed forces in Lebanon?
So it seems that it is a repeated question. I believe that Syria has its own problems and the challenges inside Syria. But any instability in Lebanon affects Syria directly, because the only land borders that Lebanon has are with Syria. So Syria is trying to help the Lebanese government as much as possible to empower the Lebanese institutions to do or to undertake their tasks, starting with economic aspects, societal aspects, and then political aspects.
Moving east to Iraq, Mr. President — I think you're going to see the new Iraqi prime minister this week here, and I know you're building a pipeline, helping to refurbish a pipeline which can help alleviate the global challenge, the macroeconomic challenge of oil and energy prices. But your relationship with Iraq and the new prime minister of Iraq in particular, and the problem that, of course, Iraq is dealing with, with Iran's influence and the Iranian-backed militia groups. Where do you see the evolution of the Syria-Iraq relationship going? Since two countries were such a font of instability, now there's potential for both to be a center of stability, hopefully. But much will depend on your relationship with Baghdad.
Of course, Iraq inherited a very heavy heritage due to the American war in Iraq that led to an increase of the Iranian influence in Iraq and their control in some of the junctures within Iraq. The current prime minister has a very heavy heritage, and I just met with him in a trilateral meeting with the ambassador of Iraq. And there are militias that are outlawed and they are working outside the institutions of the state. So the prime minister is trying to also control the arms of the militias and put them under the umbrella of the state. So we have long borders with Iraq, and we are trying to have some linkage, economic linkages between Iraq and Syria, because this will lead to improvement in the relations for the best interest of both countries. We are also trying to secure a safe passage of Iraqi products, especially oil products, through Syria. And there is a project to link the oil wells in Iraq to the Syrian ports, sea ports, as an alternative to Bab al-Mandab and the Suez Canal. Of course, that route was there since the 1950s, but because of the bad political relationship between Syria and Iraq, so this pipeline stopped. And we are trying now to reform the errors and the problems that happened in the past half century.
Mr. President, American forces have left Syria. They're in the process of leaving Iraq. I lived through some of this a decade ago, and as a vacuum opened up, nothing good happened. I'm concerned actually about US forces simply leaving Iraq altogether. And I just want to ask you — would you be open to, if the president or a future president were to offer US military forces to help train your forces, to help be present? Is that something that you are open to, as you look to what your relationship will be with foreign military forces inside Syria?
I believe the most successful exit of any American troops was in Syria, because it was a safe exit, and it happened under a good understanding and without having a war. And I believe that was the right decision. There was a prior decision to withdraw troops from Iraq, and the Americans were upset because of that, and you were one of the people who were upset because of that decision, because of those expectations or other concerns. But I believe things happened very well and very smoothly. The withdrawal was very safe, and the region remained calm. No problems happened because of that vacuum, and the Syrian state and Syrian forces took control over the area. And as I said a while ago, the SDF in the northeast were integrated into Syria, and SDF has been dismantled and it is working now under the state. So emptying Syria from foreign bases and to be part of the region and to cooperate with different countries, and empowering Syria to have the unity of its territories and its sovereignty and the independence of its decision — that is a good approach. We are dealing with so many countries in order to improve or strengthen our country, whether we're talking about training or getting some expertise and experiences of other countries.
