Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Hassaké (Agenzia Fides) - The availability of the US Administration to negotiate with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is an "option that should have already taken place" and at this point is "a forced choice, if one really wants to find a way out of this tragedy which began four years ago". This is how Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, head Syrian Catholic Archieparchy in Hassaké-Nisibi comments with Agenzia Fides the statements made by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who admitted in a television interview that the USA will have to negotiate with Bashar al-Assad to end the conflict in Syria. According to the Syrian Catholic Archbishop, everything will depend on the way in which the negotiation will be proposed by the US and other geopolitical actors. "First of all - said Mgr. Hindo - a concrete proposal for negotiation has to be placed on the table as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will mean that one is just taking time, believing to favor the further weakening of the Syrian army, which in reality is gaining ground on all the various fronts".
Furthermore, according to Archbishop Hindo, negotiations can start "only if one avoids placing stupid and provocative pre-conditions to the interlocutor. In this sense - adds Mgr. Hindo - rumors that prefigure military offensives in authorized areas of conflict which do not take any account of the boundaries between sovereign States worry me. It is not a proper way to start. Who wants the good of the Syrian and Iraqi people, cannot continue to take advantage of the crisis to pursue its geopolitical interests". (GV) Fides 16/03/2015)
