Interview with Prince Turki bin Faisal: 'Saudi Arabia Wants Downfall of
Assad'
Saudi Arabia has long urged the West to arm the Syrian rebels as they battle
forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he
explains why. He also says Europe should change its strategy in nuclear
negotiations with Iran.
June 17, 2013 - 04:44 PM
SPIEGEL: Your Highness, Saudi Arabia provides Syrian rebels with both money
and weaponry. What is the kingdom's strategic aim?
ANZEIGE
Turki: The immediate downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime and the
immediate stop of "the killing machine," as King Abdullah described
Bashar-Al-Assad's response to the demands of his people.
SPIEGEL: Troops from the Shiite radical group Hezbollah, supported by Iran,
have joined the fight in support of Assad and could soon begin marching on
Aleppo. Are the rebels not currently facing failure?
Turki: For the last two years, the regime and its supporters have been
claiming victory with any advance they make on the ground. The Syrian people
are determined to achieve what they aspired to when they began their
protest.
SPIEGEL: Syria's armed opposition is far from being a unified force. Among
them are thousands of radical extremists from, among other places, Saudi
Arabia. The rebels have extremely different views on how tomorrow's Syria
should look.
Turki: There are such elements from all over the world, including Germany.
Nor is Saudi Arabia happy with anyone going there to pursue Jihad. Anybody
who has intentions of going there, or coming back, will be held responsible
and brought to justice for contravening the orders of the king. But the most
radical and extreme elements doing most of the killing in Syria are Bashar
Al-Assad's troops with their lethal arms, mainly aircraft, tanks and
helicopters. And they are supported by the most radical elements of
Hezbollah.
SPIEGEL: As the battle for Qusair recently illustrated, Hezbollah could play
a decisive role in turning momentum back in favor of Assad. Did the West and
the Gulf States underestimate the power of the Syrian president?
Turki: I don't think we ever underestimated it. If you look back at the
statements of our Foreign Minister...
SPIEGEL: ...your brother Prince Saud al-Faisal...
Turki: ...the kingdom always said that if you don't provide the opposition
with the necessary means, this would be a long drawn out fight that would
get bloodier before it stops. Because the fighting continued these past two
years, all of these negative elements have come in, whether it is the
radical jihadists or the fundamentalists. On the other side we have
Hezbollah, we have Iranian experts on how to fight civil disobedience coming
in and we have Russian weapons support. Had the opposition from the very
beginning -- as Saudi Arabia requested from the US and Europe -- been given
the means to defend itself, the good elements would have prevented this.
They would have acquired the prestige and the prominence necessary to make
them into the accepted leadership.
SPIEGEL: Europe remains deeply divided as to whether weapons would bring
about a quicker end to the bloodshed. Most Germans think that arms for the
rebels would make the situation worse.
Turki: Russia is providing tanks, armored vehicles, artillery batteries,
missile batteries and aircraft. Iran is also supplying offensive weaponry.
These arms are killing 90 percent of the Syrian victims, most of them
innocent civilians. But if America and Europe were to have provided
anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, they would be killing those who are
killing the Syrian people. One is defensive, with the aim of preventing the
killing and the other side is offensive, seeking to inflict killing.
SPIEGEL: The war is threatening the stability of Syria's neighbors. It has
the potential to spread to the entire region.
Turki: It could only take this path if Saudi Arabia were to send an army or
if America were to declare a no-fly zone and start shooting down
Russian-made MiGs.
SPIEGEL: To what degree is this conflict actually about weakening Iran?
Turki: Iran is a paper tiger, but one with steel claws. I am talking about
Hezbollah and the groups in Iraq that they have developed over the past 10
years since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Now Hezbollah is trying to develop a
militia in Syria. Iran has operatives everywhere -- in Bahrain, Pakistan,
Afghanistan. There is an Iranian Hezbollah group in Turkey.
SPIEGEL: What would it mean for Saudi Arabia were Iran to develop a nuclear
bomb?
Turki: That Saudi Arabia must carefully look at all options, including that
of acquiring nuclear weapons.
SPIEGEL: What do you think would happen if Israel were to carry out a
pre-emptive attack to prevent Tehran from building the bomb?
Turki: Iran would retaliate against everybody -- with its missiles, with
suicide bombers, with agents. And we would be the first victims. Imagine if
a nuclear installation is destroyed in Iran and there is fallout on our side
of the border. The Iranian people would coalesce around their government. In
short, it would be total mayhem.
SPIEGEL: What is the alternative?
Turki: From the very beginning, the nuclear negotiations with Iran got off
on the wrong foot. The so called EU-3 -- Germany, France and the United
Kingdom -- had a carrot and stick approach which never worked and will never
work because the stick was never used. The right foot would have been to
propose the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction for
the whole area and the provision of two guarantees. First, economic and
technical support for countries interested in the peaceful use of nuclear
energy. And second, a nuclear security umbrella for the members of the zone
guaranteed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council.
SPIEGEL: How could the Israelis ever be convinced to give up their nuclear
arsenal?
Turki: President Barack Obama would need to get together with Russian
President Vladimir Putin, the new Chinese premier, the French President and
British Prime Minister David Cameron, and invite the countries within the
zone to discuss this plan. So it is not only a matter of Israel, it is all
of us.
SPIEGEL: Saudi Arabia sent troops into neighboring Bahrain to help quell
demonstrations there. Do the citizens of Bahrain not have the right to ask
for more freedoms?
Turki: Bahrain is a totally different situation than in Syria or Egypt. What
we are seeing in Syria is deliberate mass murder.
Interview conducted by Susanne Koelbl
------------[ Sent via the dehai-wn mailing list by dehai.org]--------------
Received on Mon Jun 17 2013 - 17:55:44 EDT