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Bashar Assad says West's aims the same in Syria, Ukraine, Russia

According to the Syrian leader, the West does not accept partners as its mentality is "colonialist by nature"
Syrian President Bashar Assad AP Photo/SANA
Syrian President Bashar Assad
© AP Photo/SANA

DAMASCUS, March 27. /TASS/. The Western mentality is colonialist, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Russia media outlets.

"The statements we have been hearing since the beginning of the crisis reflect the Western mentality, which is colonialist by nature," Assad said when asked how it would be possible to establish peace in Syria and to achieve reconciliation among the Syrians.

"The West does not accept partners. If they don’t like a certain state, they try to change it, or replace its president. When they use this reasoning, they do not see the people. As far as they’re concerned, there is no people," he said.

"They don’t like the president, so they replace him. But when they made these statements, they based them on wrong assumptions. This way of thinking might have suited the past, but is not fit for this age," Assad said.

"The same thing is happening now in Ukraine. And this is what they aim for in Russia. They don’t like President Putin, so they demonize him. The same applies everywhere. However, I would like to stress that what determines these things in the end is the Syrian people," he said.

"All the statements made by Western countries or their allies in the region about this issue did not concern us in the least. We do not care if they say the president will fall or remain in power, nor do we care whether they say that the president is legitimate or illegitimate," the Syrian leader said.

"We derive our legitimacy from the people, and if there is any reason for the state’s steadfastness in Syria, it is popular support. We shouldn’t waste our time with European statements, because they are prepared to make statements which contradict each other from day to day," he said.

"The Syrian crisis can be solved. It’s not impossible. If the Syrians sit and talk to each other, we will achieve results. We talked about national reconciliation, which is the most difficult thing: when two parties which used to carry guns and fight each other sit down and talk," Assad said.

"This is much more difficult than sitting with those who are involved in political action. In the first case there is blood, there is killing; nevertheless, we succeeded in this endeavor. We succeeded when we conducted these reconciliation attempts without foreign interference," he said.