Maliki: Terrorism 'Directly Related' to Syria

Al-Monitor: But some say that the initiative does not include any reference to the fate of the current authorities in Syria. There is a clear international line that doesn't see a place for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's future. And there are those who accuse Iraq of implicitly supporting Assad remaining in power.

Maliki:  We did not reference [the fate of] the regime, but we did reference the mechanisms that would lead to the formation of a democratic system, based on electoral legitimacy, which must be established. In the initiative, we also clarified that this will be carried out under Arab and international supervision. We called for a transitional government that will manage affairs until elections are held and a constitution is adopted.

All we want is to support the will of the Syrian people, not the forces [calling for] international intervention, which are not interested in the establishment of a democratic regime in Syria or anywhere else in the world. We cannot consider those who have stood against the current regime in Syria and called for its ouster to be parties that support democracy or freedom, or even elections. You know well that some of these parties believe that the mere existence of a true democratic regime in the region constitutes a direct threat to them.

We believe that it is these parties that are responsible for the failure or the uprisings and movements that have taken place in the countries of the Arab Spring, through hijacking them and directing them toward extremism, away from democracy, freedom, pluralism and respect for human rights.

Al-Monitor:  Iraq has complained about Syria's policies for a long time. You personally accused Syria of supporting terrorism and lodged international complaints about this issue. Frankly, Your Excellency, do you still think that the Assad regime was involved in terrorism in Iraq in 2009, in particular the attacks against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of state institutions?

Maliki:  That's a good question. Yes, we still believe that [terrorists] in Iraq were passing through Syrian territory into Iraq.

I want to draw your attention to the fact that when we lodged complaints against the regime in Syria, everyone stood against us and defended the regime, including some of those who are calling for its fall today. The reasons that made us lodge these complaints against the regime are the same reasons that have led us to object to military and security solutions to solving the crisis. We are not opposed to change in Syria; rather, we are opposed to using destructive military methods in resolving the crisis.