Syrians, EU officials hold meeting in Damascus

Representatives of Syria’s civil society held open discussions in Damascus in the presence of officials from the EU and the government.

They touched on sensitive topics, including sectarian tensions and ethnic divisions.

The EU-organized meetings known as “The Day of Dialogue” are the first to be held in Damascus after taking place in past years Brussels.

Saturday’s meetings came nearly a year after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule in Syria in early December.

The meetings that used to take place within the framework of the Brussels Conferences were mostly boycotted by then-President Bashar Assad’s government.

The EU said Saturday’s meetings were organized in cooperation with Syrian civil society and the Syrian authorities.

“The meeting that used to be held to talk about Syria is now being held in Syria,” Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani said in a speech at the opening session held at a conference center in the southern outskirts of Damascus.

Al-Shibani added that Saturday’s meetings represent “a solid partnership with the civil society and our partners in the EU.”

Michael Ohnmacht, chargé d’affaires of the EU delegation to Syria, said 500 people from Syria’s different religious and ethnic groups took part in the meetings and “this is something very positive.”

“This is what we hope for Syria’s future, to see this inclusive state which will be a state in the form of all its citizens,” Ohnmacht said.

Social Affairs Minister Hind Kabawat said: “Today’s dialogue is the beginning of change, and rebuilding Syria only happens through partnership based on respect between the state and civil society.”

During one of the sessions on transitional justice and the fate of the missing, Syrians demanded answers on issues still pending, such as more than 130,000 people who went missing under Assad’s rule, while an ethnic Kurd spoke about state discrimination they have faced for decades.

Mazen Darwish, a Syrian lawyer and one of the country’s most prominent activists who was repeatedly jailed in Syria before he went into exile years ago, said no one regrets the fall of the Assad family rule.

“Today we have an opportunity in Syria and we have to take advantage of it,” Darwish said.