Syrian Foreign Minister al-Moallem sounded like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday, blaming the West for lack of reforms and claiming Syria will be a great democracy.
During his talk al-Moallem also tried to put Israel back in the center of Middle East woes charging Israel had "ursurped the Golan Heights." He also rejected documented evidence that Iran is helping Syrian President Bashar Assad suppress the uprising in the same brutal way Ahmadinejad did in Iran two years ago.
Al-Moallem spoke the daya after Syrian troops gunned down seven protesters, and event that transpired immediately after Assad delivered a speech promising reforms.
He told the European Union and the United States to “stop meddling in Syria's affairs" and charged that the EU is fostering war. Al Moallem, who previously has enjoyed a smooth-talking diplomat's cachet, and who won over Western governments, blamed the war in Iraq for increased pressures and sanctions by the West. He added, “This is the reason behind the slowdown of the reforms in Syria…
“The European sanctions target the livelihood of the Syrian citizens and this is equal to the war…We will forget that Europe is on the map and we will freeze our membership at the Union for the Mediterranean."
Not content to merely chastise the west, the Syrian Foreign Minister turned to Ankara, which as been cooling off its friendship with Damascus as Assad’s forces have, to date, gunned down approximately 1,500 protesters.
"We are keen on establishing the best relations with our neighboring country Turkey, and I hope that they will reconsider their stance,” al-Moallem said, adding that Turkey and Syria “have been crucial allies.”
He also denied that “there is any interference by Iran or Hizbullah Party with regard to what is happening in Syria.”
Al-Moallem took a direct swipe at U.S. President Barack Obama, saying that the “American administration took years to perform the healthcare law, so why they can't wait us for few weeks [for reforms]?"
He also continued the official government line that “armed gangs” are responsible for refugees in Turkey. "The tents were set up a week before the entrance of the Syrian Army to Jisr al-Shughour and the armed groups forced the families to leave their houses,” he said.
Al-Moallem also brought Al-Qaeda into the act. "I cannot hide the fact that some of the practices that we have seen in the killings of security personnel gives an indication that these acts were carried out by al Qaeda," he said.
As for the future, he promised that Syria will be a shining example for the Middle East, vowing, “We will present an unprecedented sample of democracy for the region through our national dialogue, and there will be a social justice and an equality before the law.”