The German Government supported this Monday, January 6, a pragmatic approach to the transition in Syria, after the new strongman of Damascus refused on Friday to shake the hand of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Images of Ahmad al-Chareh’s contactless welcome to the head of German diplomacy circulate on social media.
As is customary among some strict Muslims, the Islamist leader greeted her by putting his hand on his chest, after grabbing the hand of his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, with his fingertips.
“Shows who we’re dealing with.”
This gesture had particular resonance at the time when Annalena Baerbock came to Damascus to defend women’s rights. “This shows who we are dealing with at the moment,” responded a ministry spokesman, Christian Wagner, when asked this Monday during a regular press conference.
“We cannot only talk to people, on a global scale, with whom we completely share all values and all points of view,” he defended, however.
Although “many questions are being raised today about the direction” that Damascus will take, “the interest of Germany and Europe” is to “support the process” of transition and “clearly express our expectations,” he reiterated.
First meeting since December 8
Annalena Baerbock herself briefly reacted to the episode, explaining to reporters on Friday: “As soon as I arrived, I understood that there would be no normal handshake, but it was equally clear that not only me, but also the French Foreign Minister, would not shared this opinion.”
For his part, the French minister stressed on Sunday that he would have “preferred” that the new Syrian leader agreed to shake hands with his German counterpart, although he considered that this was not the “objective” of the visit.
The visit to Damascus of the two ministers was the first of this level between officials from the great Western powers and who took the reins of the country on December 8, after the flight of President Assad.
Source: BFM TV
