Syrian regime has lost legitimacy- Rights Activist

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Bahiya Mardini, chairwoman of the Arab Committee in Defense of Freedom of Opinion and Expression, has said that the Syrian regime has lost control of the situation, adding that this is evident in its tightening of its military option that is panting after one Syrian province after another. Mardini, who lives in Cairo at present, says the demonstrations will escalate in Syria during the month of Ramadan and will mark the beginning of the solution by overthrowing the regime. This is especially true after large numbers of people are taking to the streets. The rise in the suppression and killing has intensified the reaction of the Syrian people. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in Cairo, Mardini asserted that it was the Syrian regime itself that squandered the opportunity of engaging in dialogue after it went ahead with its bloody killing and policy of detention, torture, and intimidation of the people. It did not learn from recent history and the current Arab revolts. Mardini accused Iran of backing the Syrian regime with arms and through the media. She added that the media are trying to divide the opposition by disseminating reports and rumors about disputes and problems among the oppositionists and by talking about an alleged sectarian sedition in Syria.

The text of the interview follows:

[Asharq Al-Awsat] In your opinion, why did the Syrian regime fail in dealing with the current crisis?

[Mardini] The regime itself is suffering from an internal crisis. It does not realize and analyze what is happening around it. In the beginning, it thought that Syria is not Tunisia or Egypt or Libya or Yemen. It continued to ignore what is happening around it until the demonstrations expanded. The regime was unable to control the street whose demands and voices are rising to the skies. What is left for the regime to survive is the security solution because it knows that any reform will further undermine its authority. The crux of the problem is that the regime is unable to embark on any reforms.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is the fall of the regime the only solution left now?

[Mardini] I cannot imagine any end to the revolt without the fall of the regime. I believe this is the only solution and the end that will compensate for the blood of the martyrs. I say it loud and clear to the whole world: The people had their say. Anyone that takes to the street despite the treacherous sniper fire and does not care about killing and suppression will inevitably triumph.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are your worried about the revolt?

[Mardini] We would have been concerned earlier but now that it has been going on for four months, it can only end with the fall of the regime because this is an urgent demand of the people.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is it possible to reach a peaceful solution to the protests?

[Mardini] The presence and actions of the Syrian security organs, the thugs, the death squads, the snipers, and the army that are persecuting the people dissipate any dream for a peaceful settlement of the protests. I believe that day after day, the phrase “peaceful settlement” of the protests becomes meaningless because we are confronting an adamant y dictatorial regime that does not want to listen.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Some observers say that the holy month of Ramadan will mark the end of the protests in Syria.

[Mardini] I expect the month of Ramadan to be the month of demonstrations in Syria. I expect Aleppo to join more strongly the volcano of the demonstrations. The month of Ramadan will not mark the end of the demonstration but will mark the beginning of the solution by overthrowing the regime by the huge numbers of demonstrators. This is particularly true since the suppression and killing is rising.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] The Syrian regime is fighting for dialogue. Nevertheless, the opposition insists on boycotting dialogue with the regime. In you opinion, has dialogue with the regime become meaningless?

[Mardini] The Syrian regime did not stretch its arms or open its heart and mind to dialogue. Dialogue with the regime became fruitless as soon as the first shot was fired by its security organs against the unarmed demonstrators. It is the regime itself that squandered the opportunity for dialogue when it started the bloodshed. The governor of Daraa arrested children for writing graffiti on the walls. He tortured them cruelly instead of resolving the issue. The regime continues to ignore the Syrian people and did not learn from recent history and the recent revolts. It blocked its ears to the voices of the demonstrators and acted in an excessively arrogant and weird manner.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] But are saying that the opposition lost by squandering the opportunity for participation and dialogue. What do you think?

[Mardini] The opposition did not lose at all because the regime was not serious regarding dialogue. It did not carry out any of the decisions it has made. Kurdish leader Abdul-Hameed Darwish was banned from traveling after the dialogue conference although Farooq al-Sharaa, the Syrian vice president and senior official in charge of the dialogue, said that the lists of people banned from travel has been abolished.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] You participated in the salvation conference in Istanbul. How do you explain the confusion among the participants that took place there?

[Mardini] I was pained to see the division among the different currents of the opposition that took place during the national salvation conference in took place in Istanbul. They were unable to elect a list at first. The problem was finally resolved giving give-and-take and a compromise list was eventually reached. The withdrawal of several currents, including the Kurds, means that the opposition was not able to overcome its problems through coordination and dialogue.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] In your opinion, why does the Syrian opposition appear so divided and fragmented?

[Mardini] Let us admit that yes, the Syrian opposition did not emerge with a structure on which the various opposition currents agree. But the situation in Syria is special; over the past decades, the regime in Syria succeeded in viciously dividing the ranks of the opposition. But at this historic moment, this problem should be overcome quickly; otherwise, we will miss the train.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What are the most prominent problems from which the opposition is suffering?

[Mardini] The Syrian opposition is producing exactly the same ailments from which the regime is suffering, such as individualistic conduct and tyranny. Some opposition leaders have paid a lot of blood over the time and they now want to reap the fruit of their sacrifices. Unfortunately, this is not the time to reap the fruits of sacrifices; this is the time for sacrifices for the sake of the homeland. The biggest problem is that the opposition has not overtaken the problems of the past; it did not re-producer a unified and strong opposition that can project itself as a strong and acceptable alternative to the Syrian regime.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] There have been reports about rapes committed by the Syrian army. Can you confirm that?

[Mardini] I have heard about testimonies by reputable human rights organizations, such as the Arab Human Rights Organization based in Cairo, about incidents of rape. At first, I thought these reports were fabrications until I read the report that includes testimonies by raped women. Moreover, the regime’s media have admitted to such cases of rape saying that the armed gangs committed these acts.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] In your opinion, how will the regime treat the Syrian refugees in Turkey after they return?

[Mardini] I have received reports about arrests of people returning from the refugee camps in Turkey. Moreover, the authorities are holding the families of some refugees as hostages in order to put pressure on them to return to their homes in Syria.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] There are claims about sectarian infighting in Hims. Do to what degree can the sectarian infighting undermine the protests in Syria?

[Mardini] It is not reasonable to think that there is a natural sectarian sedition in Syria when the whole Syrian people are united in the street. There is no sectarian sedition in Syria in the first place. All the sects and denominations have been living together in harmony and amity. What is happening in Hims is the fabrication of the regime’s thugs who are doing their best to demolish the united fabric of Syria.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What does the Syrian regime’s resort to the card of sectarian sedition mean to you?

[Mardini] Bashar al-Assad’s regime is using sedition as his last card. It is a weak, rotten, and exposed card that shows that the regime has exhausted all his other cards. Believe me when I say that this dirty ploy will not succeed in trapping the Syrians. The regime is re-using the cards that it used in the past in Baniyas to frighten the people.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] But some people are saying that there are sectarian dimensions in the Syrian revolt.

[Mardini] Excuse me but these allegations that are used by the regime’s trumpets that are busy distorting the image of the revolutionaries. The crux of the Syrian revolt is economic and political. Political life in Syria is non-existent and the country’s wealth is not distributed properly. The country’s resources are in the hands of a few close associates of the regime and the regime’s family. Meanwhile, the majority of the Syrians are groaning under poverty and humiliation. Thus, the crux of the revolution is not sectarian.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Rumors are circulating in Syria that Iran and Hezbollah are sharing in quelling the protests. Do you have any evidence to this?

[Mardini] Let me tell you frankly and clearly. It is Iran that is running the show in Syria now. I am not surprised since the survival of the Syrian regime is a strategic issue for Iran. The two regimes have strategic relations. Just as Iran succeeded in crushing its people’s uprising in June 2009, it is expected to help Syria to crush the revolt of the Syrian people. Moreover, the Iranian media outlets are trying to sow division in the ranks of the opposition through disseminating rumors about dispute among the oppositionists and b y claiming that there is a sectarian sedition in Syria which is not true. Iran is sending its planes and vessels to Syria. There have been many news reports about the seizure of an Iranian vessel bringing arms to Syria. This is in addition to the media support.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] And what about Hezbollah?

[Mardini] The truth is that for the Syrian people, the Hezbollah of 2006 is not the present Hezbollah. Hezbollah favored the Syrian regime without caring about the Syrian people whose blood is flowing like rivers and who supported it at one time with everything they have. Hezbollah is committing political suicide because the Syrian people will survive while the regime will go. We have proof that Hezbollah has placed all its capabilities in support of the Syrian regime. Two days ago, I saw with my own eyes clothes sworn by Hezbollah elements who were apprehended.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Some are saying that the huge demonstrations in Damascus mark the end of Bashar’s regime. What is your comment?

[Mardini] Naturally, the capital is very important. It contains all the ministries and the departments of the security organs. There is still fear that butchery may occur in Damascus, the political and administrative capital, and in Aleppo, the economic capital. Moreover, some merchants and tribes loyal to the regime are trying to stop the street from going out. In my opinion, the residents of the two cities have no other choice except to take to the street. If the demonstrations and the strike grow and expand in Damascus, this would mean the end of the regime.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] The US secretary of state has said that it is difficult to exert pressure on Syria from the outside. To what extent to you agree with her?

[Mardini] I do not agree at all. Syria can be influenced from abroad through international pressure in general and American pressure in particular. We all saw how the regime eased the killing of its people whenever US threats to Syria were made and whenever US statements escalated.

[Asharq Al-Awsat] Has President Bashar al-Assad lost his legitimacy?

[Mardini] Who kills his own people automatically loses his legitimacy. Legitimacy comes from the street and this street has changed in the past four months. The Syrian street has matured and exposed the regime. The people are raising the ceiling of their demands day by day and it is now only the overthrow of the regime.