Assad from Spain: Peace Can Never be Realized as Occupation Remains

On his scheduled visit to the European country of Spain, Syrian President Bashar Assad stressed saying, "Peace can never be realized as long as occupation remains, and can never be achieved without restoration of the rights, on top of which is the full return of the occupied Syrian Golan".

In a joint press conference between Assad and the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, the Syrian President referred that peace cannot be realized unless it is a comprehensive one, stressing that peace cannot be spoken about on the Syrian track without the Palestinian track.

As mentioning peace every now and then, Bashar Assad revealed that his visit to Spain aimed at searching for a possibility of enhancing peace opportunities, for according to him, "Peace opportunities in the Middle East are less compared to war opportunities".

Assad expressed a special importance in his visit to Spain, especially in the recent light of conditions in the Middle East, where Syria is considered to be in the middle of all the problems.

Regarding the Syrian-Spanish relations, the Syrian President stated that both states' relations and traditional and strong, referring to its credibility which was obvious by Spanish King Juan Calros, and the political stances of PM Zaparto, especially in the light of recent difficult events.

"For us in Syria, the most important stance that expressed this credibility was regarding the war on Iraq and making the decision to withdraw the Spanish forces participating in that war... It wasn't easy at that time to make such a decision, but when policy is based on principles, it surpasses all other considerations that any politician might face", President Assad said, making his position clear.

Concerning the Iranian nuclear file, Assad revealed that his talks with Zapatero in this issue expressed some concern over the non-abidance by the Brazilian-Turkish-Iranian agreement, hoping the European Union would benefit from it, helping in achiving more stability in the region.

On his behalf, the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, cited Assad's important visit to Spain in current times, and praised its important role in the Middle East causes.

Zaparterp concluded after the train of grave events, especially regarding the "Israeli" brutal attack on Freedom Flotilla, that the forces siege on Gaza should be broken.

''This is what Spain has been doing within the framework of the European Union as to make the siege lifting on Gaza a concrete reality,'' Spanish PM said, assuring his stance regarding the Palestinian issue.