Germany’s Annalena Verbock said Europe would support Syria but “will not become a financier of Islamist groups.”
The foreign ministers of France and Germany met Syria’s new de facto ruler in Damascus, marking the first visit by senior European officials to the country since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted last month.
Germany’s Annalena Barbock and France’s Jean-Noël Barot met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Shara (also known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani) in the Syrian capital on Friday.
Their visit opens a channel for Western governments to link al-Shara’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group with past ties to al-Qaeda that led the uprising against al-Assad. The decision was made amid debate over whether to lift the terrorist designation.
Barot was the first to arrive in the Syrian capital on Friday morning, writing on social media platform He posted that he expressed his support for. “For regional stability.”
“We must reach a political solution with our Kurdish allies of France so that they can be fully integrated into this political process that begins today,” Barot said after meeting civil society representatives in Damascus. said.
“We made it clear in today’s meeting that Europe will support (Syria), but Europe will not finance Islamist organizations,” Barbock said at a press conference after meeting with Syria’s new government. Ta.
“Ethnic and religious groups, including men as well as women, must be involved in the constitution-making process and the future Syrian government,” she added.
Ministers also visited Sednaya Prison, a site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances during the decades-long rule of the al-Assad family.
“What we saw today in Sednaya represents the Assad regime…this is just a glimpse of the unimaginable physical and psychological suffering that occurred there,” Barbok said, adding, “The mechanisms of accountability… could help the Syrian people’s slow recovery,” he added.
Before his trip to Syria, Barbock urged the new government to avoid “acts of revenge against groups within the population,” to avoid long delays in the run-up to elections, and to avoid attempts to introduce religious content into the justice and education systems. I was specifically looking for.
The new Syrian authorities have already announced changes to the curriculum, including eliminating poems about women and love and references to “God” in ancient history courses.
Regarding governance, al-Sharaa recently said that it will take about three years to submit a new draft constitution, and that elections could take another year.
Bourbock said Germany wanted to overcome “skepticism” about the HTS and help Syria return to “a functioning state with full control over its territory.”
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Aherbala noted that the foreign ministers of Germany and France said they were here to show solidarity with the Syrian people for the time being.
“However, when I asked some of his aides about the new (Syrian) regime, they said it was too early to talk about strong ties with the new regime for the time being, and that any financial support would have to wait for diplomatic conditions. ”
“Europeans ultimately have no say here in Syria. This will be decided by the powerful players in the region, especially the Americans,” he added.
