Son of Syria’s Ex-President Appeals Directly To the Kremlin for Help

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

UNITED NATIONS — The son of a former president of Syria, in a startling but so-far-unreported demarche here, is appealing directly to the Kremlin in the hopes of clearing the way for the Security Council here to condemn the atrocities being committed in his homeland.

Samir Shishakli, who is himself a former high ranking official of the United Nations and is the son of Adib Shishakli, has written to the only person he knows who might help: Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

Russia leads a group of Security Council members that opposes any action on Syria. France and Britain hope to get the council to condemn Mr. Assad’s repression of anti-regime protesters. America is yet to join in earnest the European pressure on the council.

Diplomats here say that President Obama is yet to determine his Syria policy and that some in his administration fear that a fractured Security Council vote, with a possible Cold War-like Russian-Chinese veto, would break the façade of unity among members of the so-called “international community.”

Enter Mr. Shihsakli. His late father, Adib, seized the Syrian presidency in 1953. After he was unseated a year later in a military coup, Shishakli pere fled to Brazil, where he was killed in 1964 by assassins from the same circles that now hold power in Damascus.

“I’m not a vindictive man,” his son, who now resides at New York after retiring from a position that made him what he describes as the  “most senior Syrian staff member” at Turtle Bay, tells The New York Sun. His letter to Mr. Lavrtov, urging him to abstain in a council vote on Syria, has more to do with current atrocities in his homeland than with past grievances, Mr. Shishakli says.  

In one of his past postings, Mr. Shishakli headed the U.N. information service at Moscow, where he often met with Mr. Lavrov, a long-time Russian envoy to the world body. “I had at least ten breakfasts” with Mr. Lavrov at that time, Mr. Shshakli told the Sun yesterday, adding that “I can’t say that I can call him now for a cup of coffee.”

In his letter, Mr. Shishakli calls on Mr. Lavrov to break from Mr. Assad Moscow’s support, which harkens back to the Soviet days. He applauds Mr. Lavrov’s “pro-Palestinian work” in the past, calling him “a national hero of the Arabs.” But with an estimated 1,400 protesters killed by Mr. Assad, Mr. Shishakli now appeals to Mr. Lavrov to allow the council to pass the European-led initiative.

“What are you waiting for?” he writes, “A Rwanda-style massacre? A recurrence of Hama-82?” The latter is a reference to the massacre perpetrated at Hama, Syria, by President Hafez Al-Assad, the father of the current president, Bashir Al-Assad.

Last week France, Britain, Portugal, and Germany circulated a proposed resolution among the 15 council members, calling on the regime of Mr. Assad to end the violence and to assure the rights of protesters. But the a group of emerging world-leading countries known as BRIC— Brazil, Russia, India and China — joined by South Africa and Lebanon, opposes any council intervention, claiming it would only have a negative effect.

The European countries are attempting — so far unsuccessfully — to coax South Africa and Brazil to join the proposed resolution’s current nine supporters. Over the weekend the envoy here of the Quai D’Orsay, Ambassador Araud, gave interviews to the Brazilian press, hoping to garner public pressure on the government in Brasilia.

European diplomats believe that with 11 supporters, Russia and China would shy away from casting a Cold War-style veto. “If we were able to achieve 11 votes, we would put this draft resolution to a vote and everyone would have to assume their responsibilities,” Foreign Minister Juppe said yesterday, adding, “We’d then see if China and Russia would go so far as to veto the resolution.”

Like Washington, Moscow would rather avoid a split at the Security Council. But it also has many interests in preserving Mr. Assad’s regime, including its naval presence in the strategic eastern Mediterranean port of Latakia.

Mr. Shishakli writes to Mr. Lavrov that his appeal is not only for humanitarian reasons, but also “out of pragmatism.” Mr. Assad’s regime “will fall, and sooner than later,” he writes, “But the Syrian blood, shed today with Russian acquiescence will NOT be recovered.” And that, he adds, “will not be forgotten.”

* * *

Following is the text of Mr. Shishakli’s letter:

Open Letter to Russian Foreign Minister from a Syrian friend*

NYC, 12 June 2011

Dear and Highly Esteemed Sergey Viktorovich,

You and I had worked together in the past for the successful outcome of visits by UN Secretaries-General (both Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan) to Moscow–you in your capacity as Russian Permanent Representative to the UN and I as Director of the UN Information Center, representing the Organization in Moscow. And I, along with many Syrians, have applauded your pro-Palestinian work at the Security Council and later as Foreign Minister. I remember telling you, half seriously, following one of your blazing statements at the Council that “you are now a national hero of the Arabs.”

I can hardly say the same now. For the news today, again, is that on Saturday (11 June), your representatives have “boycotted” a Security Council consultation on Syria. I painfully watch as, every time you open your mouth, the Syrian regime feels more emboldened. Every time you say something about Syria more Syrians are killed and tortured. Why?

In the eighties, I mentioned the massacre in Hama, my home-town, to the late Ambassador Oleg Troyanovsky, the then Soviet Permanent Representative to the UN. He opined at the time that the situation was undoubtedly exaggerated– for it was “unthinkable” that such things would happen in the last quarter of the twentieth century! Was it convenient ignorance or perhaps simple Soviet pragmatism?

We now know better. And the Russian people and you know better.

We know that in Hama, in 1982, some 40,000 Syrians were slaughtered by the regime of President Assad, the father. We know that he had active Soviet support in his suppression of the Syrian people.

That was in the Soviet past. But today, the Russian people, and you, could not have missed the horrifying pictures of Hamza, the 13 year old boy tortured to death by the regime. You could not have missed the chants, “freedom, freedom”, of the heroic bare-breasted Syrians braving regime tanks in Dara’a, Banyas, Duma, Homs, Hama, Tal-kalakh and elsewhere in Syria. They are only demanding basic human dignity in their own country. So what are you waiting for? A Rwanda-style massacre? A recurrence of Hama-82? Well, the “unthinkable” may be happening again: We’re already witnessing mass graves in Dara’a and helicopter gunships (probably Russian-made) raiding peaceful demonstrators in Ma’ara. The 1,400 death toll figure circulating today can not be but the tip of an emerging iceberg. That is why the regime reviles international media coverage and blocks UN investigators. That is why President Assad, the son, can not even take calls from the UN Secretary-General. All that while the Russians are effectively foiling a Security Council minimal resolution that does not call to attention but the gravity of the situation. Neither the Council, nor the Syrian People, would call for intervention. The resolution’s basic demand is only to stop the killing. The possibility of a Libyan-style intervention, which seems to be a Russian preoccupation, is not even implied.

I appeal to you, Mr. Lavrov, to tear down that cold-war wall, re-erected in the Security Council. The Syrian people are not asking you to aide them in their struggle. All they want from their Russian “friends” today is to stay silent: Abstain and allow the Security Council to condemn one of the worst atrocities of this century, committed by one of the last Soviet-style party regimes in the World.

Is that too much for the Syrians, historically the friends of the Russian people, to ask? I think not. For the Russian revolution that swept away the Soviet past has reached us now: We are claiming the same rights and freedoms that you had claimed in the nineties. What the Syrian people are urging you to do is to stand on the side of history. For the Syrian regime will fall.

Do it, Sergey Viktorovich, out of pragmatism, if not out of the lofty ideals of the Russian people that we love and respect. The Syrian regime will fall, and sooner than later. But the Syrian blood, shed today with Russian acquiescence will NOT be recovered. Nor It will be forgotten. Rather, it will stay unforgivable and haunting.

Yours respectfully,

Samir Shishakli

* Until his recent retirement, the writer was the most senior Syrian staff member at the UN, having worked for the UN Secretariat (not for Syria) under four Secretaries-General since 1979. He resides in New York City. This letter is written in a personal capacity.

      


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use