Some, if I may say so, denounce the leaked remarks made by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Sheibani before European ministers, in which he is quoted as saying: "54 years of minority rule have led to the displacement of 15 million Syrians, the deaths of a million martyrs, and the oppression of the majority and other minorities."
Some believe this is a statement unbecoming of a foreign minister who is supposed to represent all Syrians.
However, my dear friends, a true break with the past does not come by embellishing or denying facts, but rather by calling them what they are, without equivocation. The future cannot be built on grudges or a discourse of victimhood, but it also cannot be built on denying the suffering and injustice inflicted on a large segment of Syrians.
Yes, over the past fourteen years, one million Sunni Syrians have been martyred. Why should we deny that?
Yes, millions have been displaced, living in tents, wandering as refugees by land and sea, and many have died in detention centers.
Yes, the events on the coast documented violations against Alawites as Alawites, but they did not document that they were Syrians first. Is it true that others don't deserve to be documented specifically by name? As if others don't deserve to be documented!
I understand the concern of some that such a statement would be issued by a foreign minister who is supposed to represent all Syrians, but I do not understand the denial of the right of Syrian Sunnis to cry out and say they have been wronged.
Without this true disclosure, there will be no break with the past, and the page will not be turned so that we can write together a new history for the Syria we dream of for all Syrians, without exception. Without acknowledging the mistakes of the past, we cannot move beyond them and move toward the future we desire, lest the mistakes of that past be repeated.
Firas Haj Yehia - Zaman al-Wasl
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