Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League Ambassador Hossam Zaki said that Arab dialogue with Turkey and Iran would remain suspended until the two countries are ready to change their political approach by respecting states’ sovereignty and stopping their support of terrorism.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, ahead of the upcoming Arab Summit in Tunisia end of this month, Zaki said: “Dialogue with these two countries is suspended until the formation of a united Arab stance towards them and their readiness to change their political approach based on the principle of good neighborliness, the respect of sovereignty, non-interference and stopping terrorism support.”
The Arab situation has suffered for many years from many problems due to crises in certain countries, Zaki noted, adding that such situation had negative repercussions on the stability of the region and the decline of the process of development and political cohesion within the Arab body.
“The convening of the Arab League summit will witness talks on whether or not it will be the most important opportunity to restore Arab cohesion and deal with the existing political crises; and we hope that this summit will see serious work and all indicators confirm this already,” he stated.
Asked about the repercussions of the US decisions on Jerusalem and the Golan Heights on the summit, Zaki said: “I am looking forward to a real and in-depth discussion at the level of the Arab foreign ministers at the Tunis summit on this subject…The Golan Heights is considered occupied territory… and the Secretary-General warned of the seriousness of this action on the US mediation in the peace process in the Middle East as a whole.”
As for the question of the return of Syria to the Arab League, the assistant secretary-general emphasized that if the Syrian regime was keen on Syria’s unity, “it must take several positions that would strengthen its role and show that it does not stand alone in resolving its crises.”
“This direction does not exist so far,” he stressed.
As for the participation of the Arab League in the gathering of the Libyan national dialogue, Zaki underlined that this file concerned the Libyans only.
“The role of the Arab League is to assist, support and encourage the political process led by the United Nations. In this regard, it will host in Tunis on the eve of the summit, the quartet meeting on Libya, with the participation of the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union.”
On the latest developments in Algeria, Zaki stressed that the country did not ask for any support from the Arab League.
“Algeria did not ask, and the Arab League does not interfere because what is happening is an Algerian issue. We are monitoring the situation, trusting the wisdom of the Algerians, and supporting the stability of all the Arab countries,” he remarked.
