Iraqi government not against Syrian people – Foreign Minister

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq‘s Foreign Minister, Hoshiar Zibary, has said on Monday that the Iraqi government was not against the Syrian people, confirming that “there are certain international and regional considerations, to reserve on the Arab League‘s decision to suspend Syria‘s membership in the League.” “We don’t stand against this party or that, and we are not against the position of the Syrian people, but there are certain international and regional considerations to announce our reservation on the (Arab League‘s) decision to suspend Syria‘s membership, taken by the Iraqi government,” Zibary told a news conference, attended by IraqiNews.com news agency, adding: “We are not with the freezing of Syria‘s membership in the Arab League and are afraid that such decision would be repeated towards other states.” “Iraq‘s position had not been simple, and we have been able under direction of the government to take an independent position, out of the blockings and pressures,” Zibary said, stressing that “Syria is a neighborly state and we have distinctive relations with it; and we have commitments towards our surrounding states that we can’t ignore.” Zibary said that “the Iraqi delegation had been the only delegation that expressed an independent viewpoint towards the said decision, that had been too strong and had surpassed all the expectations of a number of Arab states, as we did not support the decision, being part of one consignment,” considering the decision as “had included strong measures against the Syrian regime.” The Arab League had decided last Saturday to suspend Syria‘s membership in the League, calling on all member-states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus, till its implementation of the Arab League‘s plan to settle the Syrian crisis. The decision was taken by 18 of the Arab League‘s members-states, with the rejection of 3 states – Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, whilst Iraq had reserved from voting. Noteworthy is that the Syrian cities had been witnessing protest demonstrations against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since last March, whilst the last UN report had put the number of people, killed due to the protest demonstrations at 3,500 victims. SKH (TS)/SR Number of Reads:142