President al-Assad Launches
official opening of festivity of Damascus, capital of Arab culture for
2008
19 January 2008
DAMASCUS - President Bashar al-Assad has said that Damascus, the capital
of Arab culture is not just a city or capital or a geographic location
located in the heart of Bilad al-sham ; Damascus has a great and
universal meaning present in the Arab conscience as a city of wealth and
spiritual richness and its source and creator.
The President, in his speech Saturday at the official opening ceremony
of the celebration of Damascus, the capital of Arab culture for 2008,
welcomed the guests saying that Damascus opens her arms to embrace sons,
dears and friends.
" The routes on which Paul, the Messenger walked have been flowered with
amity that he planted , and Khaled is opening his arms at the eastern
gate of Damascus embracing you ...the Umayyads are looking to the
horizon on the minarets of the Umayyad Mosque guarding John the
Baptist...and Sallahuddin is mocking those who have been harboring evil
to Damascus," The president continued: " Here are the tombs of renowned
philosophers , poets and artists from all over the Arab homeland form
the tomb of Farabi to the tomb of Ersouzi ...and from the tomb of Iben
Arabi to the tomb of Nabulsi..from the tomb of Hussein Marwa to the tomb
of Abdul-Karim Karmi and from the tomb of Jawahiri to the tomb of Nizar
Kabbani," " Damascus, the capital of Arab culture means to be the
capital of the Arab dignity .. gives us the strong sense of human and
national pride and inexhaustible sense of the national pride, so
Damascus is the capital of the resistance culture as an inherent feature
of our Arab culture features ... it is the culture of freedom and
defense of freedom ... it is the culture of creativity because our
freedom is a condition of our creativity and creativity and freedom can
not be separated... Damascus, the capital of the Arab culture is a great
and deep lesson and indicates the dialogue of cultures and their co-xistence
and is a symbol of the richness of life and an eloquent proof on the
futility of idea of civilizations clash, " President al-Assad stressed
that " the Arab culture establishes a love relationship and openness
with culture of the other.
Damascus is an example in that... it opens her heart to those who come
carrying their hearts and close its doors in the face of those who
approach carrying their swords... we are sons of one culture .. Our Arab
culture is our home as a whole... under it we live equal in belonging to
it .. proud to defend it .. creators in its domain .. living in it our
deepest identity because it is the pattern of our presence, values,
ideas and beliefs and spiritual creativity," President al-Assad went on
to say: " The Arab culture is the strong bond that unites our hopes and
pains .. it is the most important factor limiting the negative effects
of division on the Great Arab Nation it is the most important factor
that makes us present in this world its strength and depth of its roots
is the protector of the nation against the subversive ideas the
invincible fortification against the culture of domination and murder
and destruction it is a stronghold of hope and confidence in the defeat
of projects of division that target the nation's existence before
targeting its borders,"
President al-Assad added: " The celebration of Arab capitals is a frank
and direct reply to many questions of those who raise doubts about
existence of the Arab culture in the light of existence of this big
number of the Arab countries but that reality gives the answer ...
wherever you headed to the East or the West of the Arab homeland you
will find a common way of life... joint language and the sense of
belonging and common hopes,"
He indicated that " our one culture is the decisive saying in confirming
basis of the desired unity of the nation. " All isolationism ideologies
have completely failed to affect the people's consciousness ...all
attempts to cut what they want of our common history to make it a
feature of the history of this country or that have failed..."
The President continued: " Our culture is an identity of deep roots in
the history .. and in present .. and in goals .. identity does not
appear by a voluntary decision by one ..or upon a mood of one... our
identity is the result of all what we have achieved through the history
until this moment .. Our message is the Arabism message...message of
goodness and humanity ,".
The President added: " To those who say that globalization affects the
national identities, thus it affected the Arab identity we say that
globalization, as a contemporary phenomenon, does not contradict our
national identity, does not contradict the feeling of belonging .. Arab
identity has been enriched through all ages from cultures of the other
nations and enriched the nations' cultures .. the great culture is
capable to digest the inward cultures and re-production it once again to
become an integral part of the national culture."
Source; Ghossoun, 2008. President al-Assad Launches official opening of
festivity of Damascus, capital of Arab culture for 2008. Retrieved from
SANA (Syria Arab News Agency) 2008,
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20080120053219/SecCountries/pagSyria/chnSyria%20News/obj224038CA-8F1A-11D4-867000D0B74A0D7C/
