Cogito Ergo Kurd

THE ABSURD TIMES

A COUPLE THINGS

BY

CZAR.DONIC

Hey, we were just talking about you.

First, I have something to say right now.  And you better listen.  Enough of this QUID PRO QUO.  I don't wanna hear you use the phrase again.  As if you learned some Latin?  Come off it already. 

Look, it's like this.  The best part of Grad school was writing my Dissertation.  I had lots of fun with it.  But there was a lot of crap that went on first.  See, we needed two Foreign Languages then or "High Proficiency" in one.  So, I took the German one and later found that I had scored the highest ever at the school of the Princeton Exam.  They said the rules have just changed.  So, I had to pick up another, and I looked around.  I kept saying "I don't want to learn another exam," and people would just shake their heads.  Until a good friend said "You don't have to learn a language, all you have to do is pass a test."  That made all the difference, so I studied for three weeks and passed the French exam. (I think, the lowest possible passing score, but I'm not sure and don't care.)

So, I got through the other stuff and was finally able to work of my dissertation.  What I had determined was that Medieval Scholasticism was almost exactly the same as Boolean Logic, except they didn't have the symbols.  What's why people argue about how many angels can dance of the head of a pin and so on.  These are exercises in logic.

Only one problem: everything they wrote back then, everything "important", was written in Latin, so I had to learn how to read that.  And there was a lot of it!  OK?  So don't try to fucking impress because you learned three words in Latin, second or third hand, from some shyster attorney or TV news reader.  Enough already!

Now, let's go on to see the carry over from the last issue.  Republicans made a big deal about the poor Kurds.  Trump ran away from them with his tail between his legs when he learned that the Turks were coming.   I'm adding this just to complete the story.  It didn't surprise me a bit and I'm glad the Kurds, for awhile, found a new ally.  Guess who?  Just remember we did it.

Here we go:

Syrian troops are massing near the Turkish border, one day after Bashar al-Assad's government reached a deal to help protect the Kurds from Turkey's deadly air and ground assault. On Sunday, the Kurds agreed, in a deal brokered by Russia, to hand over two border towns to the Syrian government in exchange for protection. The Kurds had been allied with the United States up until last week, when President Trump abruptly pulled U.S. troops from northern Syria, paving the way for Turkey's assault. More than 130,000 people have already been displaced over the past five days since Turkey invaded northern Syria. The death toll is unknown. Turkey is facing increasing international condemnation for invading northern Syria. The European Union has called on all member states to stop selling arms to Ankara. We speak with Ozlem Goner, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at the City University of New York and a member of the Emergency Committee of Rojava.

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Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Syrian troops are massing near the Turkish border, one day after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reached a deal to help protect the Kurds from Turkey's deadly air and ground assault. On Sunday, the Kurds agreed, in a deal brokered by Russia, to hand over two border towns to the Syrian government in exchange for protection. The Kurds had been allied with the United States up until last week, when President Trump abruptly pulled U.S. troops from northern Syria, paving the way for Turkey's assault. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the U.S. had ordered all remaining U.S. forces out of northern Syria.

More than 130,000 people have already been displaced over the past five days since Turkey invaded northern Syria. The death toll is unknown. Turkey says more than 500, quote, "terrorists" have been "neutralized." Turkey frequently refers to Kurdish groups as "terrorists." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting Turkish-backed proxies have shot dead nine Kurdish civilians, including a prominent political leader, Hevrin Khalaf, who was killed along with her driver on Saturday. She was the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party.

Kurdish authorities are reporting 785 people affiliated with the Islamic State, including many women and children, escaped from a Kurdish-controlled displacement camp in northern Syria. The escape occurred as Turkish-backed forces shelled nearby targets. On Sunday, President Trump's former Defense Secretary James Mattis warned the current turmoil will lead to a resurgence of ISIS. This comes as The New York Times is reporting U.S. forces failed to transfer five dozen "high value" Islamic State prisoners out of Syria before Trump withdrew troops from northern Syria.

Turkey is facing increasing international condemnation for invading northern Syria. The European Union has called on all member states to stop selling arms to Ankara.

To talk more about the situation in northern Syria, we're joined by Ozlem Goner. She is an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at the City University of New York and a member of the Emergency Committee of Rojava. She is from Turkey and of Kurdish origin.

Professor Ozlem Goner, thanks so much for being with us. Can you talk about what you understand to be the latest situation now in northern Syria?

OZLEM GONER: Thank you for having me, Amy.

Well, the situation, as you just said, that Kurds needed to have a deal. So we need to just look at the situation just a little back and see that last year — actually, the beginning of this year, in January, President Trump once again said that he's going to withdraw the troops from Syria, and so leaving the Kurds alone. And this didn't happen because there was a lot of reactions against this. And then, at the time, he had said that, "Well, we're going to do this, but in time and in due warning so that our allies there can protect themselves." But this didn't happen, because just a random phone call this past week between Erdoğan and Trump, he all of a sudden decided to take all troops out of there, without any notification, without any time for the Kurdish troops to protect themselves.

So, once they were left unprotected — and it's important to realize that it's not just President Trump, but we tried very hard to develop international solidarity against this, to call for a no-fly zone, so that even if the U.S. troops get out of the place, that the Kurds can be protected with their self-defense measures combined with a no-fly zone, so that Turkey cannot do air attacks, which is the majority of losses last time happened because of this. So, this did not take place. This did not go through. There's no protection, no protection from the U.S. whatsoever. It was just very prompt taking of the troops out of there. So, the Kurds, in order to escape genocide, had to make a deal. And this is a shame, because they had to make a deal with a regime that has been repressing them for decades now in order to protect themselves.

AMY GOODMAN: So, explain what this deal is, how it happened. It was brokered by Russia.

OZLEM GONER: Yes. Yes, it was brokered by Russia. Russia — basically, once the U.S. withdrew from the region, Russia became the major power in the region, controlling and negotiating between Turkey, Assad forces and the SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces. So Russia is the only actor in the playing field right now, in addition to Iran, but right now we're speaking of the Russian leadership. And so, the terms of the deal are still unknown, because, you know, for the part of the Kurds, their urgent need for self-protection and to prevent genocide made them just urgently accept this offer from the Assad regime. Their hope is that they can keep their autonomy. This was what the leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces were saying, that this is just to protect the borders for now and to prevent the Turkish invasion, Turkish war, Turkish genocide — I mean, Kurdish genocide at the hands of Turkish forces.

And especially, just you mentioned this, and it's very important to understand, that Turkey — it's not just the ISIS fighters escaped. Turkey actually bombed the ISIS prisons so that they can escape. So Turkey is — I mean, actually, Süleyman Soylu, the Turkish interior minister, five days ago, when asked at a TV program, when Turks were concerned about the potential ISIS attack, he was like, "Be comfortable. No need to be concerned. They don't have any option but to ally with us." So they're very openly allying with ISIS.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let's go to President Trump, who was responding to questions from reporters last week —

OZLEM GONER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — asking what will happen to ISIS fighters in the region who are imprisoned and who could escape. He said, "Well, they'll escape to Europe."

OZLEM GONER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: This is what he said.

REPORTER: ISIS fighters escape and pose a threat elsewhere.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, they're going to be escaping to Europe. That's where they want to go. They want to go back to their homes, but Europe didn't want them from us.

AMY GOODMAN: Your response to what Trump just said?

OZLEM GONER: Well, this is — I mean, you know, this is just outrageous. This is just outrageous. I mean, there is the reemergence and resurgence of ISIS that happened because of Trump's sudden decision to withdraw the troops, without any protection whatsoever, without any plan to do something with these ISIS fighters and also their families. And it's very important to understand what we call ISIS families is women and children. These are fighters. They have done enormous human rights violations in the regions. There's tons of interviews with these women in the camps, in the refugee camps. And so, they are letting them free to kill the Kurds aligned with the Turkish forces. So, Trump says that it's Europe's responsibility, but, obviously —

AMY GOODMAN: Trump said, actually — he said that —

OZLEM GONER: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Oh, the ISIS fighters — 

OZLEM GONER: They will — yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — will go to Europe.

OZLEM GONER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: But he made very clear they will not come to the United States.

OZLEM GONER: Well, I mean, we know what happened. We know how they can mobilize to attack and make terrorist attacks in all parts of the world. So, this is — I mean, and especially for someone who's been using this discourse of terror for such a long time and threat for such a long time, it's outrageous not to see the imminent threat. And it's outrageous to not see the cooperation of Turkey and the open statement that we're going to cooperate with ISIS, that we're going to use the forces, the jihadists, the ISIS, in addition to the Turkish land forces and air forces, to attack an unprotected territory. And the only means that these people have is self-defense. And it's important to understand that this is not just the Kurds in the region who are under threat, but the minorities and religious minorities who have been especially targeted by ISIS. So they are looking for revenge. They're looking for, first, exterminating these leftover populations, that they started — you know, the Yazidi genocide that they had committed and enslaved thousands. I mean, and letting them both operate in that region and then saying they will go to Europe, and we know the danger that they impose to world, this is basically President Trump's fault. But also — yes.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you say about Trump tweeting today, "Kurds may be releasing some to get U.S. [sic] involved" — "to get us involved"?

OZLEM GONER: Well, this is — I mean, we all — tweeting. Who tweets about these issues? Who tweets — seriously. Why would Kurds do that? We know — I mean, we just — this is — just to bring a human face to this, we saw a woman holding her baby, crying — her dead baby — saying that "We have fled Kobani." Her husband died in Kobani. Now her daughter died, again at the hands of Turkish forces, again cooperating with the jihadists and ISIS. Why would they do such — I mean, ISIS, the major — the losses that the Kurds suffer at the hands of ISIS is 11,000 people. And these are civilians.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain, 11,000 people who —

OZLEM GONER: Eleven thousand people fighting against ISIS were killed. So the major losses —

AMY GOODMAN: In northern Syria.

OZLEM GONER: In northern Syria. I mean, so, Trump, as we know, historically, there is the role of Europe by colonizing this region of the world, by separating Kurds into four different nation-states, who repress Kurds in different forms, and we weren't able to build international solidarity to protect, to do something against this colonization over the century. And then, this is important because then the U.S., when he — it's important to say that when he says, "We don't have a responsibility. It's not our fault," who created the jihadis? Who created ISIS? Who made it in such a big threat to the world in the first place? So we need to understand U.S. involvement in this region.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain that history.

OZLEM GONER: So, if you look at it, Europe, first, because it was the colonizing agent of the early construction of this region and early separation of Kurds under four nation-states, denying their sovereignty, so denying their self-defense. And also, right now everybody is like, "Who is terrorist? PKK." And Erdoğan is using this, that they are terrorists: "We have annihilated 400, 500" — they are called "terrorists," because Europe had denied sovereignty from them. And so, when they were denied to be a nation-state, their forces of self-protection, self-defense was called terrorism.

And so, and then, we know the World War II and the U.S. involvement in this region, and so how the U.S. has created these — first, it initiated, you know, the Assad regime, these regimes, these repressive regimes, to suppress the left in the Middle East in different countries, the Baath regime in Iraq and the Turkish Sunni Islamic, neoliberal, capitalist regimes, the right regimes, against the Turkish left. So they have cultivated this region. And then we know, since early 2000, especially following September 11, it's created this war on so-called terror, reviving, recreating these jihadist forces, these Islamic forces, and letting them to run the region according to the U.S. interests. You know, so the major role that the U.S. has played in creating these monsters, that then killed, massacred the people of the region, and then denying responsibility for this is outrageous.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you — I want to ask you about Hevrin Khalaf.

OZLEM GONER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Turkish-backed proxies shot dead nine Kurdish civilians, including —

OZLEM GONER: That's right.

AMY GOODMAN: — this prominent political leader. She was the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party. Who was she?

OZLEM GONER: Well, she was a human rights defender. She was also working — as you know, one of the major successes of the Syrian revolution has been to promote women and has been to fight against patriarchy. So, she was one of these major figures, a human rights defender, who was very active. And this is — you know, they attack — they will attack, first, human rights defenders. They will attack women, as this act is showing, that especially the jihadi and ISIS forces have been very famous in attacking. And as you know, she was — you know, we don't know the exact what happened there exactly, but we know that there was sexual violence. And so, this is very important that they are going to attack these people who have been cultivating a democratic, nonpatriarchal, gender-egalitarian system, because this is what — not just ISIS, but the Turkish government is standing with the jihadis, who are very suppressive, very patriarchal, and who want to — who can't tolerate women being in the forefront. And so, women have been the targets first. Women, and then it's going to be the religious minorities, obviously all Kurds.

So, there is — you know, I mean, it's just outrageous, not just what the Trump administration did. But I think it's time for also the left to rethink about Turkey's attempts to become the regional power, and to see how Turkey's colonizing these places, these people, with the use of the jihadis and ISIS, and to be against this, to be against — really create a strong stance against this.

AMY GOODMAN: So, President Trump, at about the same time that he had his conversation with Erdoğan two Sundays ago and then announced that the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops — not that he's saying they'll go home, because it was then almost immediately announced that the Pentagon is going to send 1,800 more troops —

OZLEM GONER: Yes, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — on top of the thousands more they had already said a few weeks before, to Saudi Arabia.

OZLEM GONER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: The significance of this?

OZLEM GONER: So, thank you so much for bringing that, Amy, because people think, "Well, they celebrated." And this was — this is why I'm —

AMY GOODMAN: Well, antiwar forces who really want to end the war.

OZLEM GONER: And I'm emphasizing — and this is what I am saying that the U.S. left should really reconsider, its foreign policy and its understanding of the region, and how this region and the cultivation of this region has been based on colonialism and imperialism, and because — because the troops are a very minor part of the role of the U.S. in the region. Well, first of all, it's replacing these troops, so we're not even talking about the troops leaving the region. It's just putting the troops, taking them from here and putting them there, so letting these people get massacred because "I made a deal with Turkey" and then because we're in good relations with — so, we're going to send them there. So, first of all, troops, even though it's a minor issue in the whole region and the governing of the region, even the troops are not brought back to the U.S. They're just replaced. But also there's much more. I mean, the armament deal, where is Turkey getting its weapons? Where is Turkey getting its airplanes to attack one of the most defenseless populations of the world? It's getting it from the U.S. and European companies. So their complicity in this war against Kurds in the past century, and especially this recent episode, is very striking and is —

AMY GOODMAN: Trump also, after announcing they were withdrawing troops from that area, not necessarily bringing them home, also announced he'll be having a meeting at the White House with Erdoğan. The Washington Post ran a piece saying Trump's decision on Syria crystallizes questions about his business and his presidency.

OZLEM GONER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: The article notes Trump himself has acknowledged his conflict of interest with Turkey. Even after Trump became president, Trump Towers Istanbul remained part of the Trump Organization, continued to generate revenue for Trump himself.

OZLEM GONER: Exactly. Trump doesn't have business interests in Rojava. When he's saying, "Well, we don't have interests in there," he doesn't have interests in there. He doesn't have hotels, he doesn't have companies in Rojava. And we all know that Rojava is an anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, ecologically friendly, ecologically sensitive democracy, pluralist democracy.

AMY GOODMAN: This area of northern Syria.

OZLEM GONER: This area of northern Syria that's led by Kurdish coalition forces and also other ethnic minorities, religious minorities, who were able to live peacefully in a region that was under the attack of ISIS. And in the midst of the war, they were able to create a pluralist, feminist, ecological democracy. So, obviously, Trump's interest does not lie with this. His economic interest does not lie with this region. His ideological interest does not lie with. So, that is why it is us, the U.S. and the left, who needs to see and see what's happening and to support this region.

AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, what happens now? The Kurds have made a deal with Syria.

OZLEM GONER: Yes. So, what happens now is that we really need to push for the Kurdish autonomy. Mazlum Kobani, one of the leaders, commanders of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said that we had to make this deal to protect our people against genocide. So, and it's important because we need to make sure that we create international solidarity, that, first of all, I mean, there are economic sanctions against Turkey, to try everything to bring, you know, the Turkish occupation down, but, at the same time, to make sure that Syrian Democratic Forces is a legitimate political actor, while we're pushing the leaders to bring Turkey to make peace in the region, and Syrian Democratic Forces to establish its autonomy, because this is under threat. And right now they're making this deal. They might lose their autonomy. They might be giving in to the regime. The regime, the Assad regime, has been —

AMY GOODMAN: Which they have fought for so long.

OZLEM GONER: The Assad regime has been violent against Kurds for decades. It's not like they want to make this negotiation. They have to, because the U.S. left them unprotected, because the U.S. was not able to establish a no-fly zone that would give them some protection. And now Assad can imprison, can torture, can kill, can murder the leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces. And this really reminds me of, you know, early Turkish massacres where the leaders of the Kurds, such as in Dersim, which is my region, had to negotiate with the Turkish. They had to give in, themselves, and to protect their people. So, they're doing this to prevent a genocide, because Trump administration betrayed them and because the U.S. left does not — and the European left, the world left has not developed mechanisms and solidarity to protect them. So, it's a shame that they had to turn to another dictator to protect themselves from one dictator.

AMY GOODMAN: Ozlem Goner, I want to thank you for being with us — of course, we'll continue to follow this — assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at the City University of New York, member of the Emergency Committee of Rojava.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

United nations Syria

THE ABSURD TIMES

Assad with the only head of state invited into Syria.

There has been too much going on and I've just stored all the information for later.  One thing that is important and should be mentioned is that Iona Craig, perhaps the only reliable journalist on the subject of Yemen, did an interview.  However, you can follow her at @ionacraig (I think).  I'll get to it eventually.  Gaza has also been covered.  But today, I need to reveal the deep workings on the UN Security Council now that we have a genuine madman in as National Security Advisor.  The only thing safe about it is that Trump doesn't listen to advice.

So, one recent afternoon, I ran into a UN discussion on Sryia.  Just for context, the only elements invited in by a sovereign government, Syria, are Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah (if you count them).  All the rest are invaders.

We should make it clear that Assad, President of Syria, has been very ungrateful to us of late.  Here we send his the making of the best regime the CIA can devise and he doesn't want it.  He does not even say thank you.

So I tuned in and the Russian was speaking.  It seems that there actually was no attack and all the people need is to be sprayed with water.

The next speaker, and here it became difficult to follow, as I got very groggy by that time, lamented at the absence of Lady Justice.  There was also something about a handmaiden in there. 

Then someone mentioned that impunity was denied.  I think he had the name Inchauste in his name somewhere.

Now in the middle of all this, Salisbury became the discussion.  Why the hell are we debating Salisbury?  Discussing what to have for lunch?  Then it became clear that it had to do with poisoning a father and daughter who decided to be on England's side rather than Russia's.  They never did explain why Russia was never given a sample of the offending substance to analyze, but what happened to Syria?

Well, someone chimed in quickly and mentioned that there was an elephant in the chamber.  I looked around as that was something worth noting, but none appeared.

It turns out that the "White Helmets" are mercenaries.

One thing that has to stop is the U.S. referring to governments as "Regimes".  That's a dirty word.  If it happens again, Russia will call a point of order and stop the meeting.  So watch it, Nikki.  This isn't Carolina.

Syria mentioned that there were bunches of unaffiliated orphans with long breads and carrying black banners, of White Helmets, and so on and Syria is offering them up for adoption.  This is a humane gesture for all the orphans in Syria.  Take them. 

All in all, it was good to see how the International Community works.

Assad -- full Interview

Latuff and Syria -- Cold War?
I have no idea if the Swiss are going to try to complain about reposting this or not.  But here it is:

19 October، 2016

Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad stressed that protecting civilians in Aleppo necessitates getting rid of the terrorists.

Speaking in an interview with the Swiss SRF 1 TV channel, the President said "Of course, it's our mission according to the constitution and the law. We have to protect the people, and we have to get rid of those terrorists in Aleppo. That's how we can protect civilians."

He added that it goes without saying that the way to protect the civilians in Aleppo is to attack the terrorists who hold the civilians under their control and are killing them.

 Following is the full text of the interview:

Journalist: Mr. President, thank you very much for having welcomed Swiss Television and our program Rundschau here in Damascus.

President Assad: You are most welcome in Syria.

Question 1: First, please, allow me to clarify one thing: may I ask you every question?

President Assad: Every question, without exception.

Question 2: I'm asking because one of your conditions is that interview is being broadcast in its full version. Are you afraid that we might manipulate your statements?

President Assad: You should answer that question, but I think we should build this relation upon the trust, and I think you are worried about the trust of your audience, so I don't think so. I think you have good reputation in conveying the truth in every subject you try to cover.

Question 3: Do you see it as a lie, that the world considers you as to be a war criminal?

President Assad: That depends on what the reference in defining that word. Is it the international law, or is it the Western agenda or the Western political mood, let's say, that's being defined by vested-interests politicians in the West? According to the international law, as a President and as government and as Syrian Army, we are defending our country against the terrorists that have been invading Syria as proxies to other countries. So, if you want to go back to that word, the "war criminal," I think the first one who should be tried under that title are the Western officials; starting with George Bush who invaded Iraq without any mandate from the Security Council. Second, Cameron and Sarkozy who invaded and destroyed Libya without mandate from the Security Council. Third, the Western officials who are supporting the terrorists during the last five years in Syria, either by providing them with political umbrella, or supporting them directly with armaments, or implementing embargo on the Syrian people that has led to the killing of thousands of Syrian civilians.

Question 4: But we are here to talk about your role in this war, and the US

Secretary of State John Kerry called you "Adolf Hitler" and "Saddam Hussein" in the same breath. Does it bother you?

President Assad: No, because they don't have credibility. This is first of all. Second, for me as President, what I care about first and foremost is how the Syrian people look at me; second, my friends around the world – not my personal friends as President, I mean our friends as Syrians, like Russia, like Iran, like China, like the rest of the world – not the West, the West always tried to personalize things, just to cover the real goals which is about deposing government and getting rid of a certain president just to bring puppets to suit their agenda. So, going back to the beginning, no I don't care about what Kerry said, at all. It has no influence on me.

Question 5: You're the President of a country whose citizens are fleeing, half of your fellow citizens. The people are not only fleeing because of the terrorists, of ISIS, or the rebels, but also because of you.

President Assad: What do you mean by me? I'm not asking people to leave Syria, I'm not attacking people; I'm defending the people. Actually, the people are leaving Syria for two reasons: first reason is the action of the terrorists, direct action in killing the people. The second one is the action of the terrorists in order to paralyze the life in Syria; attacking schools, destroying infrastructure in every sector. Third, the embargo of the West that pressed many Syrians to find their livelihood outside Syria. These are the main reasons. If you can see that the second factor and the third factor are related, I mean the role of the terrorists and the West in undermining and hurting the livelihoods of the Syrians, is one and, let's say, is commonality between the terrorists and Europe.

Question 6: When you speak of terrorists, who do you mean by that? Surely ISIS, but also the "Free Syrian Army" or the Kurds?

President Assad: What I mean is like what you mean as a Swiss citizen, if you have anyone who carries machineguns or armaments and killing people under any titles, and committed vandalism, destroying public or private properties; this is a terrorist. Anyone who adopts a political way in order to make any change he wants, this is not a terrorist. You can call him opposition. But you cannot call somebody who is killing people or holding armaments, you cannot call him opposition, in your country, in my country as well.

Question 7: Well, you don't have any free opposition in your country.

President Assad: Of course we have, of course we have. We have real opposition, we have people who live in Syria, whom their grassroots are the Syrian people, they're not opposition who were forged in other countries like France or UK or Saudi Arabia or Turkey. We have them, and you can go and meet them and deal with them with your camera. You can do that yourself.

Question 8: How do you explain to your three children what is happening in

Aleppo? I'm sure that you are discussing about it at the family table.

President Assad: Yeah, of course if I'm going to explain to them, I'm going to explain about what is happening in Syria, not only in Aleppo, taking into consideration that my children are full-grown now, they understand what is going on Syria. But if you want to explain to them or to any other child what is happening, I'm going to explain about the role of the terrorists, about the role of Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia in supporting those terrorists with money, with logistic support, and the role of the West in supporting those terrorists either through armament or through helping them with the propaganda and the publicity. I'm going to explain to them in full what's going on.

Question 9: Do you, as a father, also say that you have nothing to do with the bombardments of the hospitals in Aleppo?

President Assad: Look, when they say that we are bombarding the hospitals, it means that we are killing civilians. That is the meaning of the word. The question is why would the government kill civilians, whether in hospitals or in streets or schools or anywhere? You are talking about killing Syrians. When we kill Syrians, as a government, or as army, the biggest part of the Syrian society will be against us. You cannot succeed in your war if you are killing civilians. So, this story, and this narrative, is a mendacious narrative, to be frank with you. Of course, unfortunately, every war is a bad war, in every war you have innocent victims, whether children, women, elderly, any other civilian, any other innocent who is not part of this war, he could pay the price, this is unfortunately. That's why we have to fight terrorism. When we don't say that, it's like saying – according to that question or that narrative, that you may reflect in your question – that the terrorists, Al Qaeda, al-Nusra, ISIS, are protecting the civilians, and we as government are killing the civilians. Who can believe that story? No one.

Question 10: But who else got airplanes or bunker-busting bombs besides your army?

President Assad: It's like you're saying that everyone who is killed in Syria was killed by the airplanes or aircrafts, military aircrafts! The majority of the people were killed by mortars shelled by the terrorists on them while they're at schools, in their hospitals, in the streets, anywhere. It's not related to the aerial bombardment. Sometimes you have aerial bombardment against the terrorists, but that doesn't mean that every bomb that fell somewhere was by airplane or by the Syrian Army. If you are talking about a specific incident, let's say, we have to verify that specific incident, but I'm answering you in general now.

Question 11: But you have the power to change the situation also for the children in Aleppo.

President Assad: Of course, that's why-

Journalist: Will you do that?

President Assad: Exactly, that's our mission, according to the constitution, according to the law; that we have to protect the people, that we have to get rid of those terrorists from Aleppo. This is where we can protect the civilians. How can you protect them while they are under the control of the terrorists? They've been killed by them, and they've been controlled fully by the terrorists. Is it our role to sit aside and watch? Is that how we can protect the Syrian people? We need to attack the terrorists, that's self-evident.

Question 12: May I show you a picture?

President Assad: Of course.

Journalist: This young boy has become the symbol of the war. I think that you know this picture.

President Assad: Of course I saw it.

Journalist: His name is Omran. Five years old.

President Assad: Yeah.

Journalist: Covered with blood, scared, traumatized. Is there anything you would like to say to Omran and his family?

President Assad: There's something I would like to say to you first of all, because I want you to go back after my interview, and go to the internet to see the same picture of the same child, with his sister, both were rescued by what they call them in the West "White Helmets" which is a facelift of al-Nusra in Aleppo. They were rescued twice, each one in a different incident, and just as part of the publicity of those White Helmets. None of these incidents were true. You can have it manipulated, and it is manipulated. I'm going to send you those two pictures, and they are on the internet, just to see that this is a forged picture, not a real one. We have real pictures of children being harmed, but this one in specific is a forged one.

Question 13: But it's true that innocent civilians are dying, in Aleppo.

President Assad: Of course, not only in Aleppo; in Syria. But now you are talking about Aleppo, because the whole hysteria in the West about Aleppo, for one reason; not because Aleppo is under siege, because Aleppo has been under siege for the last four years by the terrorists, and we haven't heard a question by Western journalists about what's happening in

Aleppo that time, and we haven't heard a single statement by Western officials regarding the children of Aleppo. Now, they are talking about Aleppo recently just because the terrorists are in a bad shape. This is the only reason, because the Syrian Army are making advancement, and the Western countries – mainly the United States and its allies like UK and France – feeling that they are losing the last cards of terrorism in Syria, and the main bastion of that terrorism today is Aleppo.

Question 14: Everything is allowed in this war for you.

President Assad: No, of course, you have the international law, you have the human rights charter, you have to obey. But in every war, every war in the world during the history, you cannot make sure a hundred percent that you can control everything in that direction. You always have flaws, that's why I said every war is a bad war. But there's difference between individual mistakes and the policy of the government. The policy of the government, to say that we are attacking civilians, we are attacking hospitals, we are attacking schools, we are doing all these atrocities, that's not possible, because you cannot work or go against your interests. You cannot go against your duty toward the people, otherwise you are going to lose the war as a government. You cannot withstand such a ferocious war for five years and a half while you are killing your own people. That's impossible. But you always have mistakes, whether it's about crossfire, it's about individual mistakes… bring me a war, a single war in the recent history, that it was a clean war. You don't have.

Question 15: Do you have made any mistakes too in this war?

President Assad: As President I define the policy of the country, according to our policy, the main pillars of this policy during the crisis is to fight terrorism, which I think is correct and we will not going to change it, of course, to make dialogue between the Syrians, and I think which is correct, the third one which is proven to be effective during the last two years is the reconciliations; local reconciliations with the militants who have been holding machineguns against the people and against the government and against the army, and this one has, again, proven that it's a good step. So, these are the pillars of this policy. You cannot talk about mistakes in this policy. You can talk about mistakes in the implementation of the policy, that could be related to the individuals.

Question 16: You still believe in a diplomatic solution?

President Assad: Definitely, but you don't have something called diplomatic solution or military solution; you have solution, but every conflict has many aspects, one of them is the security, like our situation, and the other one is in the political aspect of this solution. For example, if you ask me about how can you deal with Al Qaeda, with al-Nusra, with ISIS? Is it possible to make negotiations with them? They won't make, they're not ready to, they wouldn't. They have their own ideology, repugnant ideology, so you cannot make political solution with this party; you have to fight them, you have to get rid of them. While if you talk about dialogue, you can make dialogue with two entities; the first one, political entities, any political entities, whether with or against or in the middle, and with every militant who is ready to give in his armament for the sake of the security or stability in Syria. Of course we believe in it.

Question 17: There are news from Russia about a short humanitarian pause in Aleppo on Thursday, what does it mean this humanitarian pause, can you explain?

President Assad: It's a short halting of operations in order to allow the humanitarian supply to get into different areas in Aleppo, and at the same time to allow the civilians who wanted to leave the terrorist-held areas to move to the government-controlled area.

Question 18: This is really a step, an important step?

President Assad: Of course, it is an important step as a beginning, but it's not enough. It's about the continuation; how can you allow those civilians to leave. The majority of them wanted to leave the area held by the terrorists, but they won't allow them. They either shoot them or they kill their families if they leave that area.

Question 19: Russia is on your side, what does it mean for you?

President Assad: No, it's not on my side. It's on the international law's side.

It's on the other side which is opposite to the terrorists' side. This is the position of Russia, because they wanted to make sure that the international law prevails, not the Western agenda in toppling every government that doesn't fit with their agendas. They wanted to make sure that the terrorism doesn't prevail in that area, that would affect negatively the Russians themselves, Russia itself as a country, and Europe and the rest of the world. That's what it means for Russia to stand beside the legitimate Syrian government and the Syrian people.

Question 20: Mr. President, you use chemical weapons and barrel bombs in Syria against your own population, these are UN reports, you can't ignore it.

President Assad: You are talking about two different issues. The chemical issue, it was proven to be false, and they haven't a shred of evidence about the Syrian Army using chemical weapons, particularly before we give up our arsenal in 2013, now we don't have it anyway. Before that, it was fiction because if you want to use such mass destruction armaments, you're going to kill thousands of people in one incident, and we didn't have such incidents. Beside that, we wouldn't use it because you're going to kill your own people, and that's against your interest. So, this is a false allegation. We don't have to waste our time with it. You live in Syria, there is a traditional war, but there is nothing related to mass destruction armaments.

Journalist: But the UN report is not a fiction.

President Assad: The UN report never has been credible, never, and because they put reports based on allegations, based on other reports, on forged reports, and they say this is a report. Did they send a delegation to make investigation? They sent one in 2013, and it couldn't prove at all that the Syrian Army used chemical weapons. This is first. The second, which is more important, the first incident happened at the beginning of 2013 in

Aleppo, when we said that the terrorists used chemical weapons against our army, and we invited the United Nations to send a delegation. We, we did, and at that time, the United States opposed that delegation because they already knew that this investigation – of course if it's impartial – is going to prove that those terrorists, their proxies, used chemical armaments against the Syrian Army. Regarding the barrel bombs, I want to ask you: what is the definition of barrel bomb? If you go to our army, you don't have in our records something called "barrel bomb," so how do you understand – just to know how I can answer you – what a barrel bomb is? We have bombs.

Journalist: The destruction… it's the destruction, and it is against humanitarian law.

President Assad: Every bomb can make destruction, every bomb, so you don't have bomb to make nothing. So, this is a word that has been used in West as part of the Western narrative in order to show that there is an indiscriminate bomb that has been killing civilians indiscriminately and that opposes the Western narrative, I'll show you the contradiction: in other areas they say that we are bombarding intentionally the hospitals, and you mentioned that, and they are targeting intentionally the schools, and we targeted intentionally the convoys to Aleppo last month, those targets need high-precision missiles. So, they have to choose which part of the narrative; we either have indiscriminate bombs or we have high-precision bombs. They keep contradicting in the same narrative, this is the Western reality now. So, which one to choose? I can answer you, but again, we don't have any indiscriminate bombs. If we kill people indiscriminately, it means we are losing the war because people will be against us; I cannot kill the Syrian people, either morally or for my interest, because in that case I'm going to push the Syrian community and society towards the terrorists, not vice versa.

Question 21: I would like to mention the subject of torture prisons, Mr. President. Amnesty speaks of seventeen thousands dead. Regarding the prison of Saidnaya, there are still horrible reports. When will you allow an independent observer into that prison?

President Assad: Independent, and Amnesty International is not independent and it is not impartial.

Journalist: ICRC?

President Assad: We didn't discuss it with the Red Cross, we didn't discuss it. It should be discussed in our institutions, if you want to allow… if there is allegation, it could be discussed. We don't say yes or no, but the report you have mentioned, it was a report made by Qatar, and financed by Qatar. You don't know the source, you don't know the names of those victims, nothing verified about that report. It was paid by Qatar directly in order to vilify and smear the Syrian government and the Syrian Army.

Journalist: But there are a lot of eyewitnesses.

President Assad: No one knows who are they. You don't have anything clear about that. It's not verified. So, no.

Journalist: Then open the door for organizations like Red Cross.

President Assad: It's not my decision to tell you yes or no. We have institutions, if we need to discuss this part, we need to go back to the institutions before saying yes or no.

Question 22: Why are you sure that you are going to win this war?

President Assad: Because you have to defend your country, and you have to believe that you can win the war to defend your country. If you don't have that belief, you will lose. You know, part of the war is what you believe in, so, it's self-evident and very intuitive that you have to have that belief.

Question 23: If you walk through Damascus, your picture is everywhere, in every shop, in every restaurant, in every car, a symbol for a dictator, is this your way to fix your power?

President Assad: There is a difference between dictator and dictatorship.

Dictator is about the person. I didn't ask anyone to put my picture in Syria, I never did it. This is first. Second, to describe someone as a dictator, you should ask his people, I mean only his people can say that he is a dictator or he is a good guy.

Journalist: Thank you Mr. President for having answered our questions for Swiss Television and the Rundschau.

President Assad: Thank you for coming to Syria.