In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to God the Lord of the World-Dwellers and prayers and peace be upon the trusted Messenger and all his family and companions. As for what follows:
To the defiant Syrian people, I stand before you today with a heart filled with hope and determination, directing my speech to all Syrian men and women, to those who live in the displacement camps, to the internally displaced and the refugees, to the injured and wounded, to the families of the martyrs and the missing, to the revolutionary activists who dedicated their life to struggle for Free Syria. I stand before you today 54 days after we were all liberated and Syria was liberated from the bonds of a criminal regime that oppressed us for decades. 54 days have passed since the disappearance of 54 years of the darkest forms of dictatorial rule in the history of Syria and the entire world. Syria was liberated by God’s grace first, then by the grace of every person who strove on the inside and the outside. Every person who sacrificed his life and blood, and his home and wealth, and his peace and security.
Syria was liberated by the martyrs, male and female detainees, men and women who were tortured, missing men and women, and all their nursing mothers and their oppressed people, because of all their sacrifices and your sacrifices I stand here today, so that together we can open a new chapter in the history of our beloved land.
This victory started from the throats of the demonstrators and the chants of the protestors in the squares and fields. It started from the fingertips of Hamza al-Khatib and the songs of the demonstrations, and the sighs of the detained and tortured in the cells of Palmyra, Saydnaya and the Palestine branch. It continued with the sacrifices of the revolutionaries who freed Syria’s land, despite years of the torments of the missiles, barrel bombs and chemical weapons. For they did not deviate, nor were they broken. Oh brothers and sisters, yesterday I received responsibility for the land, after intense consultations with legal experts to guarantee the course of the political process, within legal norms, granting the process the necessary legitimacy.
From here, I address you today in my capacity as president of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success so we can revive our homeland, and overcome the challenges that we are facing, and that will only be through all standing together in people and leadership.
From here, I address you today in my capacity as president of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success so we can revive our homeland, and overcome the challenges that we are facing, and that will only be through all standing together in people and leadership. I address you today not as a ruler but as a servant for our wounded homeland, striving with all power and will I have been given to realise Syria’s unity and renaissance, as we should all understand that this is a transitional stage, and it is part of a political process that requires true participation by all Syrian men and women, inside and outside the country, so that we can build their future with freedom and dignity, without marginalisation or sidelining.
We will work to form a comprehensive transitional government, reflecting Syria’s diversity in its men, women and youth, and working to build the new Syria’s institutions so that we can reach a stage of free and impartial elections. On the basis of my being entrusted with my current duties and the decision to dissolve the People’s Council, I will announce a preparatory committee to choose a mini legislative council that fills this gap in the transitional stage. We will announce in the coming days the preparatory committee for the national dialogue conference, which will be a direct platform for exchanges, discussions and hearing various points of view regarding our forthcoming political program. After completing these steps, we will announce the constitutional declaration to serve as the legal reference for the transitional stage.
We will focus in the coming period on outlining our priorities as follows:
- Attaining civil peace, and pursuing the criminals who have been steeped in Syrian blood, and committed massacres and crimes against us, whether among those who have gone into hiding inside the country, or have fled outside it, via true transitional justice.
- Realising the unity of Syrian lands: all of Syria, and imposing its sovereignty under one authority and on one land.
- Building strong institutions for the state, based on competency and justice, not corruption, cronyism or bribes in them.
- Anchoring the pillars of a strong economy, that restores to Syria its regional and international place, and provides true dignified job opportunities, so that the living situation can be improved, and the basic lost services can be restored.
Oh people of Free Syria, building the homeland is the responsibility of all of us, and this is a call to all Syrians to participate in building a new homeland, in which there is rule through justice and consultation.
Together, we will build the future Syria: the Syria that is the beacon of knowledge and progress, the refuge of security and stability, the Syria of comfort, progress and prosperity, the Syria that extends its hand with peace and respect, so that its people can return to a dignified noble homeland, which is prosperous, safe and secure by God’s permission.
