Although those broadcasts may be fabrications, at least some shipments of arms are being smuggled into Syria, and into the hands of those who oppose the government, reporters say.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is a correspondent for The Guardian newspaper based in Istanbul, Turkey. He’s met with arms smugglers in Syria.

He tells host Marco Werman many of the weapons are coming across the border from Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey.

Reporter Marine Olivesi visited the Boynuyogun refugee camp in Turkey where she recorded a poem (in Arabic) from one of the refugees. Ghazwan Haj-Issa wrote the poem after hearing about the latest violence in Homs. Ghazwan is a lawyer, but also a published poet. The poem is about Homs.

Read tweets about Syria

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: Rami Khouri is a frequent commentator on Arab affairs. He joins us from Beirut. Rami, these Syrian refugees like the ones we just heard about, how likely are they to play a significant role in the fight against the Assad regime?

Rami Khouri: These refugees will go back with practical links that they have with people on the ground in Turkey, with international communities. The Syrian exiled leadership, the various Syrian opposition groups in exile, some of them have made contacts with international humanitarian agencies. And some of them are probably going to be arranging for arms to be smuggled in to the breakaway soldiers that are now fighting against the Syrian government.

Werman: It’s as seemingly polarized as it could be right now in Syria. Would you describe what’s happening there as civil war?

Khouri: Well, I think this is low intensity localized civil war, yes. You’ve got the government fighting against opposition groups. It’s not all out ethnic civil war yet, that’s what people are worried about, but that’s the fear and there are signs of that starting in parts of Homs, for instance.

Werman: Mm, the need to wind down the violence in Syria isn’t just about curbing the bloodshed. There’s great concern about what a civil war could mean for the wider region. What do you see as the implications of a civil war in Syria for the region at large?

Khouri: If you have an all-out civil war in Syria it’s going to take on ethnic and sectarian overtones, so if you get Alawites and Sunnis for instance, fighting each other…if you get revenge against some Christians who might have been accused of supporting the Assad regime, these will spill over into Lebanon, and Iraq and to Jordan very quickly. If the Kurds get involved that hooks you up with Iraq and with Turkey. So the demographic links between groups in Syria and all of its neighbors are very strong. And then there are political and ideological links as well. So there are real concerns among many people that a civil war, an all-out civil war will spill over into other parts of the region. I personally downplay that prospect. I don’t think that is going to happen, but is a real concern that people have, and some people fear that for instance, the Syrian regime, if it feels that it’s backing against the wall, might instigate that kind of strife deliberately, the kind of Sampson option to bring down the whole temple on everybody’s head.

Werman: You wrote about that worst case scenario recently. What could, what should the Obama administration be doing at this point to ensure that the conflict in Syria doesn’t start impacting the rest of the region?

Khouri: It’s hard for the Obama administration to do very much. The US has very little impact and influence in the region and now this is a consequence of 20-30 years of misguided policies culminating in the war in Iraq. The best it can do is just simply state that it is with the people of Syria for a free and democratic and pluralistic system of government. It should also support any measure that the Arab League comes up with. If the Arab League reflects the consensus of the Arab region, the United States would do well to stand behind that saying this is what the people want, this is what democracy is all about, we are with the consent of the governed and we will standby an Arab League resolution.

Werman: Rami Khouri directs the Issam Fares Institutes of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Rami, good to speak with you again, thank you.

Khouri: Thank you, glad to be with you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

The legislation calls for up to one year in prison — and a fine of more than $50,000 — for anyone in France found guilty of denying a “recognized genocide.”

It doesn’t mention the Turks or Armenians by name. But in 2001, the French government officially declared that the death of more than a million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I was genocide.

Turkey has long maintained that the actual number of those killed was much lower, and that the deaths came in the course of war time. It’s a crime in Turkey to refer to those deaths as genocide.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking before Turkey’s parliament today, condemned the French vote.

“This is the awakening of the values of the Middle Ages, which totally undermines European values and common sense,” Erdogan said. “You can’t judge or re-write history in parliaments.”

The French Senate’s approval of the measure came after a lengthy debate. Armenia’s foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, applauded the vote.

“This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights worldwide,” Nalbandian said. “France reaffirmed its pivotal role as a genuine defender of universal human values.”

The vote puts French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a tricky spot. A deputy from his own party originally sponsored the bill. Sarkozy is facing re-election this year, and some have accused him of using the genocide legislation to court electoral favor with the nearly 600,000 people of Armenian descent living in France.

There are also wider implications for France’s position in Europe and beyond.
Sarkozy’s own foreign minister, Alain Juppe, opposed the bill.

“I think this initiative is untimely,” Juppe said. “What I would like to do today is to call on our Turkish friends to keep a cool head. Turkey is a big economic power, and we need to have good relations with it.”

France is Turkey’s fifth largest export market. The two countries do more than $13 billion in trade a year.

Now, Turkey is threatening a host of military, political and economic sanctions. Turkey’s ambassador to France said today that he expected to be recalled. A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Paris said that “relations in every field have been stopped for the moment.”

But even before the passage of the genocide legislation, there was some friction between France and Turkey.

President Sarkozy has been lukewarm when it comes to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Soli Özel, a columnist with the Turkish newspaper Haber Turk, said it seems that French president is not especially concerned about having good relations with Turkey.

“In the Mediterranean, France considers Turkey a rival power, and would like to cut it down to size. That’s how it’s seen in Turkey anyway,” Özel said.

Turkish officials have said they would lobby to have France’s constitutional court rule on the genocide legislation. They’ve also said they wouldn’t impose any sanctions until Sarkozy signs the bill into law.

Sarkozy’s office said on Tuesday that that would happen within two weeks.

Anti-Syria protest in Washington (Photo: mar is sea Y/Flickr)

The failure by the Arab League mission to stop the violence in Syria puts more pressure on the larger international community to intervene there but the US has no plans to do that.

Host Marco Werman talks to Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations and Marc Lynch of George Washington University about their opposing views on whether or not the US should intervene.

Listen to the full conversation:

What do you think? Should the West intervene militarily in Syria?

Post your comments below.

Read More About The Arguments:
• March Lynch: No Military Option In Syria
• Steven Cook: It’s Time to Think Seriously About Intervening in Syria
• Marwa Daoudy: The Case Against Military Intervention In Syria
• Nick Cohen: The West Has A Duty To Intervene in Syria
• The Atlantic: Debating Western Intervention In Syria

Arab League observer in Syria (BBC video)

CBC reporter Margaret Evans just returned from a visit to Syria.

She’s one of the few foreign journalists who’s been granted access by the Assad regime since protests began there last March.

Margaret chats with host Marco Werman about what she saw and who she spoke to in Syria and then introduces a radio piece she reported from a town south of Damascus.

Visualize tweets for this story: Click on the image below to see tweets

Read tweets about Syria

Read tweets about Syria

The “external conspiracy is clear to everybody,” Assad said in his first public remarks in months.

He said elections could be held later this year but “terrorism”, he added, would be met with an “iron fist”.

Meanwhile the Arab League said it held the government “totally responsible” for attacks against its observers.

The BBC’s Lina Sinjab is in Damascus.

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman. This is “The World”. Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, doesn’t speak in public very often. He has rarely done so since the rebellion against his rule started in Syria last March, but today, Assad gave a public speech that lasted one hundred minutes and it was a defiant one. The BBC’s Lina Sinjab is in Damascus. Lina, how did the president sound and appear today? Any different from the past nine months?

Lina Sinjab: Well, no difference at all. It sounded, but even more defiant than his last speeches and more confident that this is a conspiracy against his country. It is a foreign intervention or foreign attempt to destabilize Syria and almost totally dismissed that there is a local and internal demand for change, an internal call for freedom.

Werman: Right. So this idea that Assad is blaming foreign interference for the troubles there, let’s hear a bit more of that part of the speech through an interpreter.

Bashar al-Assad: [Speaking Arabic]

Interpreter: The external conspiracy is clear to everybody and nobody can be at fault anymore. The tears shed by the merchant of freedom and democracy cannot hide the role that I have played in shedding the blood of the Syrian people.

Werman: Lina Sinjab, what is President Assad referring to there, as “a merchant of freedom and democracy”?

Sinjab: Well, President Assad is basically blaming the whole situation inside Syria on foreign countries and even Arab countries that are trying to destabilize the country. He’s also saying that most of the people have been hypnotized or have been fooled by these foreign power, by their call for democracy, but in fact the call for democracy inside Syria is not a real call for democracy, but rather it’s an element by foreign forces to destabilize and divide Syria into several issues, and he says that today, even the Syrian people are succeeding in pushing away this conspiracy, ignoring, at the same time, the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the streets, calling for freedom and calling for a regime change and more than five thousand civilians being killed by security forces, according to the United Nations, since the uprising started back in March.

Werman: Now some analysts are saying when he says “merchant of freedom and democracy”, he was referring to the United States. Did he have any proof to offer that external forces like the United States were meddling inside Syria?

Sinjab: He has always blamed the issues on the Western foreign powers including the United States. Even during the whole crisis, sometimes the government would mention Israel behind this conspiracy as the government is blaming it. He did not mention the United States per se, but he is always referring to it and his government and the official media is definitely accusing the United States and the West of meddling into Syrian affairs.

Werman: So it sounds like that kind of shifting the blame to external forces is a ploy Assad has used in the past. Lina, let’s listen to another excerpt from his piece. This part has now become the headline of what President Assad has said. Again, speaking though an interpreter.

Assad: [Speaking Arabic]

Interpreter: This will be achieved through by hitting hard with an iron fist against the terrors. We will not relent, we will not be lenient against division, and we will not be lenient against those who plot against the country.

Werman: So the BBC’s Lina Sinjab in Damascus. It’s hard to imagine the line “using an iron fist” as being anything other than literal. In reality, will that mean that the government is now really taking its gloves off? And if so, will things go from bloody to even bloodier?

Sinjab: Well, that’s exactly the sense among the protestors and opposition groups here and activists on the ground. They fear that the tone and the language used in this speech means more crackdown and more violence. In fact, he mentioned in his speech as well that there are popular powers and popular groups who are defending and protecting the military and that security from attacks by armed gang, as he says, but this for the protestors and for the opposition means the pro-Assad militias or the Shabiha, as they’re known here in Damascus, that they will be legitimized in their violence even more against the civilians and against the peaceful protestors. There’s high concern here in Syria that the situation is going to get worse.

Werman: The BBC’s Lina Sinjab in Damascus

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read more

Read tweets about Syria

The province used to be part of Syria once, but was ceded to Turkey in 1939.

It is an ethically diverse province and even includes a village with a 100 percent ethnic Armenian population.

The capital of the province is the city of Antakya.

Hatay is the answer to the Geo Quiz.

Hatay is home to the only village in Turkey that is populated solely by ethnic Armenians considering that most ethnic Armenians, in what was then the Ottoman empire, fled or were killed or ethnically cleansed in 1915.

Reporter Matthew Brunwasser paid the village a visit.

Bitterness over the 1915 Armenian massacres and ethnic cleansing in Turkey by then Ottoman forces is still unresolved. But Turkey’s last remaining village inhabited solely by ethnic Armenians is a seriously peaceful place. Vafikli Koyu today attracts visitors with its pretty views, excellent climate and tasty organic produce.

It’s a balmy Sunday in Vakifli Koyu, a sleepy village on a lush mountaintop overlooking the Mediterranean. The air smells like orange blossoms and the townsfolk, all 135 of them, never seem to hurry.

It feels like it could be any Sunday from over the centuries, as services start at the St. Astvatzatzin Armenian Apostolic Church. But today there is big news. The village has a new resident priest for the first time in 11 years. And today is his first service.

Father Avedis Tabashyan was born and raised nearby. He is 31 and excited about his new job.

“I think more worshipers will come to church because there will be regular services,” says Tabashyan. “The spiritual life of the people will improve because they have a priest now with whom they can share their problems.”

The village looks and feels more prosperous than its neighbors – largely due to the money sent by family members working abroad. There is also innovation here. The village was one of the first in Turkey to start growing organic oranges in 2004. Tabashyan says most of the young people have left and the remaining villagers have realistic expectations.

“Agriculture doesn’t bring us much money so the population will continue to shrink,” he says. But even if there are only 50 people left in the village, there will still be Armenians here. And whenever there is a holiday those who have left will always remember the village and many will come back.

A historical Ottoman-era building, crumbling and neglected. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser)

“There’s a little difference, but our traditions are very similar,” Chaparyan says. “We go to each others villages for weddings and religious festivals and there’s no problems at all.”

The village is tranquil. The runoff from village farms flows down steep stone steps, carved into the mountainside along the village’s streets.

It’s also a small village. Taking a short walk, I run into Chaparyan again, sitting on a bench and playing a wooden folk flute.

The song he’s playing is emblematic of the painful relations between Turks and Armenians, sari gelin or “blond bride” in Turkish.

“Sari gelin, sari” says Chaparyan. “It’s a song both Turks and Armenians share. The real meaning in Armenian is ‘mountain bride.’”

A documentary film using the name of the song, produced by Turks, promotes the Turkish nationalist perspective that Armenians were in fact the aggressors in the bloody events of 1915. But the people of Vakifli Koyu can’t be bothered. They’re more concerned about business.

Gohar Kartun is selling jars of locally grown and prepared food products to the crowds of Sunday tourists who like to shop here.

1187 Gohar Kartun selling locally-produced preserved fruit and vegetables, oils, sauces and juices on behalf of the Vakifli Koyu's women's collective. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser)

“Sometimes, sometimes,” Kartun says. “It depends on the questions they are asking. Not everyone looks through the same window. Some of them say, ‘we are so happy to see Armenians in our Turkey.’ They want to come and see what kind of creatures we are.”

Kartun says that tourism is one economic bright spot for Vakifli Koyu. The main attraction in the Hatay region is the nearby ancient city of Antakya, Antioch in the bible. The province also has one of Turkey’s most multi-cultural populations, including Turks, Arabs, Christians of various denominations, Alevi and Sunni Muslims.

“Hatay is a rainbow and we are one of the colors. And I’m trying to show it to the world, ” Kartun says.

As Turkey matures politically and moves away from the ethnic nationalism of its founders, minorities like Armenians hope that Turks learn to appreciate diversity. Locals want people to think of Vakifli Koyu as nothing more than a place for a relaxing weekend stroll.

Subscribe and follow:

• Geo Quiz Podcast on iTunes
• Geo Quiz Podcast via RSS
• The World on Facebook
• The World on Twitter

It also once went by the name Byzantium.

In the 6th century it was a hub of culture, commerce and diplomacy and bridged two continents.

The city got its modern name in 1453 AD.

So, can you come up with the city’s once and current name?

They both appear in a popular children song.

Constantinople and Istanbul are the answers to the Geo Quiz.

And about 2,000 years of musical history is collected in a new 2-CD set called “A Story of The City: Constantinople Istanbul.”

Mehmet Ali Sanlikol put together this collection.

Subscribe and follow The World’s Global Hit

• Global Hit Podcast on iTunes
• Global Hit Podcast via RSS
• Global Hit Archive (prior to June 2009)
• Global Hit on Facebook
• Marco Werman on Twitter

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: The source of most information coming from Syria these days is the country’s opposition. Its members put out daily updates about the daily clashes between protestors and President Bashar Al-Assad’s security forces. We spoke several times on this program with Syrian anti-government activists. Today we hear from the regime. Jihad Makdissi is a foreign ministry spokesman. He denies that his government is deliberately killing protestors.

Jihad Makdissi: There is no policy for a crackdown in Syria. What’s happening in Syria is not black and white as some media outlet is trying to portray. The army and security’s mandate is only to respond to those who are carrying weapon and heavy weaponry, simply and unfortunately, against the state. And here we differentiate between peaceful demonstrators and armed elements who are carrying guns and arms like shoulder-mounted rockets. So this is the job of the army. It is not for killing and they don’t have this mandate. And anyone who would breach this, he would be accountable by all.

Werman: But does heavily armed individuals, that’s a more recent development of army defectors, that’s what we understand. The original protestors were peaceful and yet they were shot.

Makdissi: Marco, let me tell you something, the sector of people who are fleeing from the army, they are deserters. The problem now with this high amount of people carrying weapons against the state, there are people hiding under this definition and pretending to be defectors, meanwhile they are militias. I’m not saying, Marco, to be clear for you audience, I’m not saying we don’t have a problem in Syria. Yes, we do, but the thing is it’s not as simple as people would like to portray this.

Werman: You say the crisis in Syria is complex, but from here it looks like one more country involved in the Arab Spring; people demanding democracy ahead of state refusing to give it over. How’s it more complex than that?

Makdissi: It is very complicated because when you say Arab Spring that means it’s only peaceful demonstrations. How can we justify that six pilots were killed, assassinated in their base bus while on their way home? The government is confrontation with these people who are carrying arms and assassinating people or killing people, and not against the demonstrations. Syria is not afraid of democracy.

Werman: Dr. Makdissi, Dr. Makdissis, if Syria is not afraid of democracy then why have more than 5,000 Syrians been killed in this fighting so far? Are you saying all of them are army defectors or soldiers, militia?

Makdissi: No, no, not at all, what I’m telling you is that the story is not black and white. First of all, I disagree with the number 5,000.

Werman: That’s a UN estimate.

Makdissi: When we, just to give an idea for your audience, it’s not like 5,000 civilians were killed in massacres. In addition, there are mistakes that happen and the leadership of the president is to hold those people accountable.

Werman: At three heads of state so far, Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi and Ben Ali of Tunisia have been deposed by crowds clamoring for democracy as Syrians are doing right now, why do you think President Assad will be different and will be able to weather the same storm in Syria?

Makdissi: Because simply he still enjoys a high rate of popularity, but Marco, anyway, it’s no longer about the president. It’s about Syria as a country. It’s about the brink on a civil war or not. It’s about you know, the civil security of Syria. It’s no longer about the president.

Werman: Dr. Jihad Makdissi, spokesperson for the Syrian Foreign Ministry, thank you very much for your time indeed, sir.

Makdissi: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Turkey formally applied for EU membership in 1987.

It was officially recognized as a candidate for full membership 12 years later, but today it remains embroiled in membership negotiations.

Meanwhile, Turkish citizens have to go through a long and bureaucratic process to travel to the EU. Rules make it tough for Turks to get a visa and many spend long hours in line, waiting.

One Turkish musician, Sarp Yeletaysi, decided to tackle the matter with humor and wrote a song about the visa hurdles. It’s called “Schengen Macht Frei.”

Subscribe and follow The World’s Global Hit

• Global Hit Podcast on iTunes
• Global Hit Podcast via RSS
• Global Hit Archive (prior to June 2009)
• Global Hit on Facebook
• Marco Werman on Twitter

Eleven of the deaths were in and around the city of Homs, while five were in the suburbs of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Marco Werman speaks with activist Omar Telawi who is in Homs.

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. There was another spike in the violence today Syria. Government security forces are reported to have fired, once again, on protestors. Activists say several people were killed including at least two children. A lot of the violence took place in Homs – the city that’s emerged as the hub of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and there’s concern that the Syrian government is preparing an assault on Homs to try and suppress the revolt. It’s hard to say exactly what’s happening in the city. The government doesn’t allow international journalists to cover the protests and many activists in Homs won’t speak for fear of attracting government reprisals. Today, Homs activist, Omar Telawi, is making an exception. He is speaking with from Homs via Skype. We’ll be hearing his thoughts through an interpreter who has asked us not to use his name for security reasons. I greatly appreciate both of you joining us. Omar, please tell me a little bit about your own experience since the uprising began. How did you get involved and what has happened to you?

Omar Telawi: [Speaking Arabic].

Interpreter: I was at school and I had to leave school because my dad wasn’t able to afford any of the bills and it was really tough, our life, financially, and my dad is the only person for paying all the bills, and I had to leave school and help the family, and just before the uprising, then I saw what happened in Daraa, where the whole story began with a bunch of kids writing on the wall about the president and whatever they were writing and what happened to their family and their moms and then their dads, and actually I felt really bad and I talked to a bunch of friends who were like, “Alright, we need to just gather together and just go down and support them just to show them some support,” and we’re about a hundred people and that was the first time, the first Friday, there were people, protestor in Homs and I was just stunned with the thugs and security forces and policemen all over the place. The thugs or the “Shabiha”, which are the security forces and they’re thugs, started hitting us and hitting everyone and all we were saying is, we were saying, “God, Syria, Freedom. Daraa, we are with you. We’ll never forget about you. God, Syria, Freedom” And they were just getting brutally treated and hit by the thugs that were carrying a lot of guns and a lot of sticks, and then they started throwing tear gas. They threw more than fifteen tear bombs at us, and then I started looking all over the street. There were blood and people just laying on the ground. So that was pretty painful.

Werman: Now just to clarify, Daraa is where the first protest in started and then it spread to Homs and across the country.

Interpreter: That is correct. Yes, it is.

Werman: And what month was that?

Telawi: [Speaking Arabic]

Interpreter: March.

Werman: That was in March?

Interpreter: March 15th.

Werman: Have you been attacked personally, Omar?

Telawi: [Speaking Arabic].

Interpreter: Yes, I was attacked three times and my house and my store were broken into about nineteen times. I would like to just explain to you that there were two actual life kidnapping tries by the thugs and security forces. That they actually tried to kidnap me and arrest me and God knows what’s going to happen to me, and one time they were about two meters away from me and I was with a couple of my friends and they shot all of us. The two other people got killed, but myself, I got hit in the arm and in my finger as well, but two people were shot dead with me at that time.

Werman: Is it dangerous for you, Omar, to be speaking with us right now?

Telawi: [Speaking Arabic].

Interpreter: No, I don’t think it’s dangerous. Everyone knows about me right now. The government knows about me and they tried to kidnap me two twice and they tried to kill me a few times. So pretty much I lost the fear. I’m fearless and I have more than ten people with me right now who are organizing with me, organizing the protests and what we need to do and setting up the cameras and all the security we’re having in Bab Sba’a, in our neighborhood, to keep it safe, and because we’re not present there all the time, we set all these cameras to record on a 24/7 basis so it would catch any attempt by security forces and then they would post those videos online, because they cannot be present at the time where the security forces there all the time, you know, because it’s dangerous.

Werman: It’s cold this time of the year in Homs and aside from the random chaos and the violence, what is life in Homs like right now?

Telawi: [Speaking Arabic]

Interpreter: Homs and Bab Sba’a specifically is suffering one of the most dangerous things compared to other areas is that there’s no actual hospital over there, so there’s no place to take all the wounded people there. There were an eight year old boy that was shot by a sniper this morning and I recorded that, and the bullet went though the window. It broke the window and straight through the boy and it killed him, and because the killing is being daily right now, on a daily basis, there’s no place to take all these wounded people, that we need blood, we need meds, we need IVs. There’s nothing around us because there’s no hospitals. So it’s pretty much a surviving and life matter more than being warm right now.

Werman: I don’t know how much news people in Homs are getting from the outside world, but earlier this week, President Assad gave an interview to the American News Network, ABC, and he said he doesn’t feel any guilt for the deaths of Syrians during the past nine months of protests because he doesn’t own the military. In fact, he said, “Military forces belong to the government. I don’t own them. I’m President. I don’t own the country, so they’re not my forces.” Omar, what is your reaction to that?

Telawi: [Speaking Arabic].

Interpreter: It didn’t make any sense, what he said and it’s craziness what Bashar al-Assad’s talked about, that he doesn’t own the government. He’s the leader of the government and the army. That’s his title. So he is in full responsibility for what’s going on, but now they’re trying to spread the rumor and keep lying, lying, lying until you believe the lie. So that’s what he’s trying to do, and from his last interview, you can tell that he lost control from all these answers and he actually did lose control in Homs because the freedom army is now in charge and it’s the one that is controlling and protecting civilians in Homs. The situation in the life in Homs right now is brutal. There is no electricity, there’s no water, no heating oil – which is the main thing. It’s really cold right now and people, they’re not bringing any heating oil because it’s really expensive, so it’s pretty much cut in Homs. So people are suffering, kids cannot stand up anymore, there’s not even milk for the kids, the stores are closed most of the time, so we cannot get any food supplies specially for elderly and kids that cannot tolerate that kind of lifestyle condition. And I just want to tell you the condition of all the arrested people are living right now. There are too many people, over a thousand people in a small room, really cold, they keep them in underwears and they spray cold water on them. They’re not able to help them or help their families. When I’m able to contact them, I feel really bad because they’re getting humiliated in a really, really bad way. I’m not going to go through it right now because it’s not appropriate, but they’re getting insulted and humiliated brutally. It’s really, really, really hard and it’s really a tough life for everyone right now.

Werman: Clearly a dire situation in Homs. Activist Omar, spoke with us from Homs, Syria. Omar, thank you very much for speaking with us and stay safe.

Telawi: Thank you. [Speaking Arabic].

Werman: I just want to say thank you and thanks for making the effort to make that happen and to show the world what’s happening in Bab Sba’a and Syria in general. I’m also grateful to our translator who joined us anonymously for security reasons. Thank you.

Interpreter: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read tweets about Syria

Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy talks with host Lisa Mullins about the options still open for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Lisa Mullins: Violence continues in Syria where protest have weakened the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey’s government today raised the prospect of creating a buffer zone inside Syria to protect civilians who might try to flee across the border. If Syria’s president were to step down, it’s not clear where he would flee. Syria expert Andrew Tabler is a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He spent two years working as a media consultant for Syrian charities and first lady Al-Assad. These days Tabler says president Assad’s options are rapidly dwindling.

Andrew Tabler: Previously we thought he could run to Qatar and the Emirates. That now seems to be cut off but in the end he could always run to Tehran because the Iranian’s are his biggest ally and that’s a place were he could live out the rest of his life if he’s deposed.

Mullins: Would it matter to Washington where he goes as long as he leaves?

Tabler: No, they don’t care. They just want him out of there and they want to have a leader in place that is willing to cut a political deal and lead to a democratic transition as outlined by the European countries and the Turks and of course by President Obama last August.

Mullins: And is there any appetite for bringing this man, if he does indeed leave, or if he is apprehended to the international criminal court or to seek justice in one way or another?

Tabler: I think that we’re heading in that direction. Until now that’s been an option which has been put on the back burner because they were hoping that Assad would exit on his own and that would give him an inducement to leave. But as his options dwindle and he continues to hold on I think the ICC indictment is looking increasingly likely.

Mullins: Is Bashar al-Assad, as you know him or have known him in the past, someone who would be inclined to fight to the bitter end like Gaddafi?

Tabler: It’s very hard to say. My inclination is yes but Bashar al-Assad is first and foremost a very unstable individual. I think the word that best describes the regime in Syria is moody. It’s very difficult to decipher him whether you have been in the country working there or if you are even a U.S. diplomat or a foreign diplomat who has met with Assad. It’s very hard to figure out why on the one hand Bashar promises to do one thing but then ends up either not doing it or doing completely the opposite and I think that pattern will continue the rest of the days of reign.

Mullins: Is that moody? Is it unstable in particular?

Tabler: It’s a moodiness. It’s a kind of ruthlessness that I think for too long a lot of Western diplomats just simply papered over. He is not his father. His father was a brutal dictator and carried out one of the worst massacres in the history of the Middle East but he was a more straightforward person and he would very seldomly say yes to anything you put in front of him but when he did say yes you could bank on it as a very famous U.S. official has said recently. Bashar is completely different.

Mullins: Could there be some kind of a political deal where Bashar al-Assad of Syria would not be cornered but where he steps down the way that the president of Yemen appears to be doing right now, even to the surprise of many?

Tabler: It’s difficult because of the minority nature of the regime. These kind of scenarios have been presented to Assad over the last few months and he has rejected them. I don’t expect he will go for them now but you never know. That would be a much better end to this then the looming scenario we have on our hands of this sectarian war breaking out in this part of the Middle East.

Mullins: I wonder if you have any other thoughts, Andrew, on why he feels as though he could survive when an increasing amount before him have not.

Tabler: Because for some reason he still believes he can shoot his way out of this crisis.

Mullins: So did Gaddafi.

Tabler: That’s true and in the end he went down. The problem is that in the past that worked but that didn’t work with a country with these kind of demographics. Huge parts of the Syrian population are below the age of 25 and whether he goes down now or whether he goes down later, simple fact of the matter is his regime is failing. It’s systematic failure and the problem for everyone now is that the western countries, Turkey, the Arab countries, they have realized this and they know that the longer he holds on that the bloody and more sectarian this is going to get.

Mullins: Andrew Tabler, fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He’s the author of the newly released book In the Lions Den, an Eyewitness Account of Washtington’s battle with Syria. Thank you Andrew.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

That’s welcome news, even to those who continue to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Among them, members of Syria’s Christian minority in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Host Marco Werman talks to Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, Archbishop of Aleppo. Ibrahim says his congregation supports Assad because he’s their president.

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: I am Marco Werman. This is The World. Syria says it agrees in principle to allow Arab League monitors into the country. The announcement came just ahead of a key deadline tomorrow. The Arab League is demanding a stop to the Syrian government’s brutal 8-month crackdown on protestors. More than 3,500 people are estimated to have been killed in that crackdown so far. Despite the bloodshed and the mounting international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, some people in Syria still support his regime. Among them, members of Syria’s Christian minority in the city of Aleppo. Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim is Archbishop of Aleppo. He still has faith in Assad’s promises of reform though he admits the country suffers from many serious problems.

Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim: We have corruption and we have this way of lacking democracy. Yes, I don’t deny it, but it doesn’t mean that we have to destroy the country when we ask for democracy and freedom.

Werman: It is widely believed that Assad’s government has been behind the killing of more than 3,500 people. That doesn’t seem like a little mistake. I mean, you’re a man of the cloth. You know the words: Thou shalt not kill; and you still support Assad’s government.

Ibrahim: I cannot tell you that really it’s only the government who kills the people. Both sides are killing. And I think everybody here, any wise man, is not wishing to have this kind of violence in our country.

Werman: Sir, there are about a quarter million Christians in Aleppo. Have you discussed your views with anyone in the congregation there? Do they agree with you? Would they feel the freedom to disagree with you?

Ibrahim: Well, the majority of the Christians in Syria they all say that we are against every manifestation of violence. So, I don’t know whether you interpret it that we are supporting the regime. We are supporting our country. We don’t like to see this country divided and having this kind of killing and so on. We are supporting our country. We need it to have all these kinds of stability and security.

Werman: Before the violence began in Syria 8 months ago, were you under the impression that things needed to change in your country? That it did need to democratize? That Assad was not necessarily on the right path?

Ibrahim: Well, you see exactly after Tunisia, everybody started to get worried about the situation of this country because Syria could not be out of these new changes in the whole area, and also the Syrians here, inside and outside, started to claim for more democracy. And I think this is very right. Nobody can say that we don’t need it. We need freedom of conscience, we need democracy. But I think the dramatic situation changed the whole demand of those people who were really seeking to have Syria this way.

Werman: There are these Arab League monitors apparently are headed to Syria and, from here, it’s really hard to see whether President Assad will bring about any democratic reforms before the protestors and the Syrian National Council raise its stakes. Do you really believe Assad will come through with those reforms while his troops are in the streets killing Syrians?

Ibrahim: I know that the regime… The goal is that we are on our way to have more democracy, more freedom. So let us give them time for it. You cannot do it by force.

Werman: Archbishop, how much longer are you willing to wait? If that number of 3,500 dead protestors goes up double to 7,000, what happens then for you?

Ibrahim: Well, I think the end is coming because I feel that the feeling of the government is with the stability. So I myself, I’m very optimistic and I think between one week and 10 days we can have good changes in Syria.

Werman: Mar Gregorios, Archbishop of Aleppo, thank you very much for speaking with us.

Ibrahim: Thank you, thank you very much.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read tweets about Syria