The Foreign Minister calls for the integration of the Kurds into the security apparatus in exchange for protection guarantees
MADRID, 3 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, acknowledged this Friday that her Government is fully aware of the jihadist nature of the new Syrian authorities of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), but has admitted that right now the need for security prevails. the country’s population before warning that Berlin and Brussels will judge the organization “for its upcoming actions.”
“We know where the HTS comes from ideologically, what it has done in the past,” explained Baerbock after starring, together with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot – representing the EU – in a meeting with the jihadist and current leader strongman of the country, Ahmed al Shara (alias ‘Abú Mohamed al Golani’).
“But we will continue to judge HTS by its actions. Despite all the skepticism, we must not miss the opportunity to support the people of Syria at this important crossroads,” he stressed.
Baerbock has also asked this Friday the Syrian Kurdish-Arab militias that lead the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to be integrated into the new security organization prepared by the country’s jihadist authorities in exchange for guarantees of protection for the Kurdish minority in Syrian Rojava (northeast).
“All of Syria’s neighbors must respect the integrity of the country. For this, the Kurdish militias must be integrated into the Syrian security apparatus,” he explained.
In statements collected by the Kurdish agency Rudaw, Baerbock has also called for an end to the fighting that the FDS is currently having with Syrian militias backed by Turkey in the north of the country.
In the previous hours, Baerbock and Barrot have been able to visit the Syrian Sednaya prison, one of the symbols of the repression of the former government of former Syrian president Bashar al Assad, overthrown last month in the rebel offensive led by the jihadist organization alias ‘ Al Golani’.
During a visit to the prison, on the outskirts of Damascus, the politician recognized the impossibility of restoring the lives of the thousands of victims who died there, many of them political prisoners. “But we can all contribute as an international community to guarantee that justice is done,” he argued in comments collected by the DPA agency.
The minister recalled that Germany and the European Union (EU) have supported organizations such as the White Helmets and the UN in recent years in collecting evidence to guarantee justice and clarification of the facts.
“That’s exactly what we want to continue,” he commented. “That is why we are here, among other things, to make it clear that when it comes to gathering evidence, delivering justice and investigating these terrible crimes, we are also on the side of the people in Syria,” he added.
Previously, upon his arrival in Damascus, Baerbock declared that “a new political beginning is possible between Europe and Syria, between Germany and Syria.”
The prerequisite, he specified, is that all Syrians, women and men, regardless of their ethnic or religious group, have a place in the political process, have their rights guaranteed and receive protection.
The German minister stressed that the rights of women and minorities must be protected and “must not be undermined by excessive delays before the elections or by measures to Islamize the justice or education systems”, after alias ‘Al Golani’ estimated, this past weekend, that the transition process in Syria could last up to four years due to the need to draft a new Constitution and complete a new census.