Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-24-Speech-4-166"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070524.25.4-166"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, my interest in Syrian affairs is common knowledge; I have always taken the view that isolating that country would do no good at the international level and would do nothing to advance peace in the region, and it is for that reason that I am a supporter of the plan for an association agreement, which has been put on ice ever since the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. Commitment to Syria and friendship with it also imply, however, that we do not mince our words when fundamental rights are violated, and that is why I take a critical line on, and indeed denounce, the political repression under which all the opposition, of whatever tendency, currently labour.
Most of the prisoners for whose release we are calling today are people we have met; they are almost friends, and none of them, when speaking with us, talked in terms of recourse to any means other than legal and peaceful ones in democratising the country that they all love passionately. When a country turns on those who love it passionately, when it stifles freedom of expression, it puts itself in danger, and I would not want to see Syria doing that to itself.
Today, we are calling for the release of Michel Kilo, Mahmoud Issa, Suleiman Achmar, Faek El Mir, Aref Dalila, Kamal al-Labwani and Anouar Bunni, who must be set at liberty. I would therefore appreciate it if the Council and the Commission were to pass this message on to the Syrian Government and if that body were to give it a very great deal of attention, for the message is a serious one.
Moreover, it would be good if Syria were to firmly declare itself in favour of there being an international criminal tribunal under Chapter 6 to try Hariri’s assassins; the international community would appreciate such a gesture, which would facilitate an exit from the political stalemate with which Lebanon is struggling, a stalemate that encourages recurrent bloody conflicts and offers forebodings of a period of violence and instability. It is common knowledge that Syria’s adopting such a position, far from being an interference in Lebanese affairs, would, on the contrary, make it possible to break the deadlock and, above all, to put a stop to the rumours that give people cause to think that Syrian could, in an underhand way, frustrate the establishment of such a criminal tribunal."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples