By: Nibal Bakfalouni

The meeting was spontaneous. The facial expressions of the interviewee display some kind of a relief in spite of the road filled with thorns. The thorns unveil his bleeding fingers to show anemones and other flowers. The flowers have made their way to give colors to the white dove of peace ravaged by nostalgia to Syria. The dove vowed itself to restrict earthquakes and hurricanes and bring them back to the bottle oblivion. This dove has been used that the skies of this kind country that hosts those generous people are skies moistened by the leaves of love that glitter with national unity and will remain immune to separation. The enemies of this homeland with all the trees they cut in order to plant hatred instead will have to walk away their sinful hands to ignite these trees and grill their distorted faces. Although they wanted to discredit this beautiful country, the sun has insisted that the clouds may at times its beauty obscure, but the mid day glare will always wave the flag of triumph announcing that evil has a glimpse of prevail and will soon fade away.
The path to the mind and conscience of the Minister of National is open to appreciate the patriotism of this lover of country and people.
Q. Reconciliations have succeeded in Damascus city. The example is what happened in "Barzeh". There is also some talk about reconciliation in" Alqadam". What is the way to expand the national reconciliation map to cover all Syrian territory?
The agenda of local reconciliations was not limited to Damascus city and countryside. Even before Damascus, other governorates such as western rural Homs, northern rural Hama and eastern rural "Latakia", including" Haffeh" and surrounding villages were covered. Local reconciliations have reached "Quneitra" and rural "Heena" surroundings. Had not "Nusra" front intervened, we would have achieved an important job. In the north we achieved very important reconciliations. We did that in 'Deir Ezzor" outskirts and in "Quriyeh" and its surroundings. The intrusion of ISIS has malfunctioned this. This way, we find that national reconciliation is not limited to Damascus and its countryside. It is a complex and very extensive project with many details. The mechanisms of action are different from one region to another. There are regions where we have fully succeeded. We completed reconciliations, secured the requirements for stability, continuity and consolidation of local reconciliation. In other regions, we made big strides but we still need to support and strengthen the process. There are other regions where we are still at the beginning. The hallmark of any local reconciliation in any region is the return of the presence of the state to the region. That means the return of safety and government services as well as the absence of any weapons except for the legitimate weapons of the Syrian state in that region. In short, the local reconciliation means the return of the people to their normal lives.
If we want to go into detail, they are many, and these vary from one region to another. Dealing with local gunmen is easier than dealing with gunmen who have links with the foreign forces or with emerging organizations that have foreign agendas such as "Nusra" front and ISIS. We cannot deal nor dialogue with the latter two. This is why we seek to push them out from these regions so that we can work with the people remaining there.
Q. What is the political future of these reconciliations with the militants? Will they participate in the local councils, for example?
A. Without any doubt, they will. National reconciliation is the first step and the basic building block for paving a solid ground to launch a political process. The essential, permanent, final and safe pathway to materialize the future vision of Syria is through a political process that will lead to a final reconciliation; the national reconciliation. Let me here distinguish between local reconciliations that occur in some regions and the final national reconciliation which is the outcome of the political process. In operational details, we cannot put a specific agenda or a specific process for how to include the Syrian people as a whole in the political process. Nor we can decide how to represents it. Accordingly, for those who took up arms, abandoning the weapons is not sufficient to give them innocence documents or certificates of good conduct to participate in governing, in the independent state atmosphere, through a position of their own choice. They are required to abandon their arms to shift to the political process and thus political participation through political parties, formations and forces. That means through new configurations through which they will participate in the political life and the political solution. Based on their political power, their abilities and true representation of the Syrian people through the ideas they carry to embrace the demands of the Syrian people, they can have an active role in the upcoming political structure and scene. This is the final vision for a political solution in Syria. Everything before that represents temporary measures that do not reflect an integrated picture of the upcoming political life. The upcoming political life that Syria wants, which establishes the way out of this crisis, is an active political life for forces, parties, currents and formations that work truly and rightfully in politics. All the above should be responsive to the demands of the Syrian people and should advocate their needs and demands. This cannot be done on the basis of "quotas". It does not mean giving those who are carrying arms the right to share in the political structure just because they had taken up arms.
Q. The issue of displaced people inside and outside Syria is laying a burden on the government. How will the government deal with this pressing issue beginning with those people inside the country, and then with those abroad?
A. This is undoubtedly a huge task as the figures are in millions now. Displaced people have become unemployed. They cannot be productive at the individual, family, societal and national level. Consequently, in addition to their own human suffering, they are putting additional burdens on the government. The first goal and the first topic in the strategic plans of the Syrian state are to return these people to their places of residence. They need to return to places of security, safety and stability psychologically in the first place, socially in the second place, and economically in the third place. After that, they need to go through the so-called rehabilitation and integration in the community in order to become active and productive again. This is a complex and lengthy process that needs all the capabilities of the Syrian state. These start from the army, which is to achieve security and safety. They go through the institutions that assure the peace of mind and the emotional stability that persuade these people and allow them to return to their regions with the conviction and the confidence that their areas have become safe. They also go through availing infrastructure and services to the areas that have been destroyed and/or ruined. We should not forget the role of line ministries, such as the Ministry of Social Affairs, that are concerned in securing a temporary residence when there are destroyed houses, along with securing all indicators of the return of the state including health and education services to these areas. Consequently, we reach to a title saying “the return of these people to their normal lives needs to be a lengthy march and a long work.” I know that achieving the safe return of these people is among the priorities of the government today. This, however, depends on several factors including the size of the damage done to these areas, the social fabric structure that makes possible the return and integration with the others, as well as the potential that these areas can be stable and productive in the next phase. It is important to take into account the fact that the region is truly safe from the military point of view to avoid these people displaced being again a prey of the armed groups.
Q. Will there be any curricula at the levels of education, culture and higher education to consolidate the concepts of national unity and dialogue in order to create a generation that believes in tolerance and dialogue and accepts the opinions of others?
A. This is the responsibility of the government as a whole. It is not the responsibility of a particular ministry. It should be the policy of the salvation government, i.e. the Government of National Reconciliation. This has to formulate a clear vision of what we call today a new network of social relations among members of the Syrian society. Therefore, it must be concerned with all the major interests of the daily life the Syrian citizen in education, medical care, health, culture, media and the new minds to be built. What we seek is to build new minds for a new generation that can build Syria in the future.

Q. What is the role of media consolidating and strengthening the national unity after the enemies of the homeland have tried to tear up this unity?
A. We have to distinguish between the role of the media as a mirror reflecting reality and its role as a cauldron for formulating minds and ideas. There is a big difference. Is it a mirror or a beacon? We are required to build the beacon media that contributes to the formulation of minds. When it does this, within the context of an integrated unity, it establishes what we call the national reconciliation, and the new social fabric network. This new social fabric is not totally new but it has been significantly damaged during the last four years. Our history that dates back to ten thousand years of human civilization must have the ingredients to be a single unit, allowing him to come out of this crisis faster than we imagine.
Q. The "Reconstruction” issue, what are the stages through which it will pass?
A. This is one of the most complex assignments of the Syrian government and even the Syrian society. The mission is more important and of broader range because of several considerations. The first issue is the comparison between the size of devastation caused by the aggression against Syria and the amplitude of Syria’s capabilities for reconstruction. I can frankly say that the capabilities of the Syrian state are not sufficient to rebuild Syria. Throughout history and in all the crises that hit nations and peoples, international efforts were concerted to contribute to the reconstruction project and not for reconstruction process itself. The latter is the responsibility of the Syrian government and the state. Friendly countries are expected to contribute by providing the same kind of assistance they provide to countries facing natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Accordingly, we can say that this assignment needs an enabling international environment. It needs an international atmosphere based on a political ground that guarantees a national reconciliation and a safe way out of this crisis. This project will raise, among other things, the issue of reconstruction. Only then we can talk about securing an initial environment that meet the minimum requirements for the Syrians to lead their lives.
Q. What is the way to removing the negative effects that overwhelm our children and our own minds because of the images of horror and destruction and the culture of killing?
This is probably the most beautiful and most presenting question this moment. To start erasing negative effects, you need to replace them with more positive beautiful images. Here comes the role of media when I said that it must be a beacon, not a mirror. On TV, we need to start transmitting beauty rather than horror, murder and destruction images. These nice images need not to be confined to the TV screen. They need to be transformed into real life practice. They need to launch an integrated renaissance project that envisions building a new generation with new mindsets. This is a long project that needs, I think, international experience because local expertise in this area is not enough. The reason simply has nothing to do with not preparing ourselves and not building the necessary skills for this. It is because the crisis is entirely is an intruding crisis hitting the Syrian society and the Syrian life in general. It was in no one’s perspective to plan treating disease that never existed in the Syrian society. The emergence of AIDS and Ebola globally needed for the concerted efforts of the entire world to find solutions for some while failing in others.