ASIA/SYRIA - The Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo: "The West supports dialogue between the parties"

Aleppo (Agenzia Fides) - "The West, if one wants to make a good service to the Syrian people, has to support and put pressure for dialogue between the parties," says to Fides His Excellency Jean-Clément Jeanbart, Metropolitan Archbishop of Aleppo for the Greek-Catholics, at the conclusion of a brief summit with the other Catholic Bishops, held today in his Archbishopric.
The Assembly decided to convene a new ecumenical meeting with all the Bishops and Christian leaders of all denominations (Catholics, Orthodoxs, Protestants), Saturday 28th July.
"We will pray together for peace in Syria and will face the urgent issues such as the protection of Christians and humanitarian aid to the population that suffers," explains the Archbishop.
"In Aleppo - he says - the situation is very tense, but for Christians at present there are no problems. There are fears that the situation will worsen and that the militants may penetrate the Christian areas, but so far nothing has happened." The Archbishop expresses a wish:
"May the West do their utmost to promote dialogue between the parties, push both sides toward peace and not to support the armed groups, among which there are the fundamentalists. It is not by supplying weapons to Syria that democracy will be reached. We ask to support Kofi Annan’s plan and do everything possible to find a peaceful solution. " "If the West takes the issue seriously and helps dialogue - says Mgr. Jeanbart - this is really a good service to the Syrian people. One must recognize that the nation is divided in support for the two parties, and that not one or the other has an absolute majority: so the solution is dialogue. If there is good will and international support in this direction, the situation could improve, because violence leads nowhere."
The Metropolitan concludes: "Among the Syrian Christians there is fear of losing what they have achieved over the past 70 years: a non-denominational culture, a pluralism that is a very valuable asset. We want to live in our country, with full rights and duties. We fear that, if a fundamentalist government or Islamic theocracy comes to power, we will lose the freedom to witness our faith, religious freedom and freedom of expression, essential to be citizens of a nation that guarantees the rights of all." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 26/7/2012)