More Quotes
The appalling crackdown that we witnessed in Hama and other Syrian cities on 30 and 31 July only erode the regime‘s legitimacy and increase resentment. In the absence of an end to the senseless violence and a genuine process of political reform, we will continue to pursue further EU sanctions. Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.
In the future, we will have to deal with missiles, torpedoes, mines, above-surface weapons and underwater ones, both in Gaza and Lebanon…we assume that everything that Iran has can be brought to theaters closer to us.
The government must encourage competition…Businesswomen and men are an integral part of our economy. The added value comes from the private sector. Therefore the government must encourage competition but there is no need to limit the individual‘s freedom. We must sparingly and responsibly correct the falsifications so that we do not fall from the tree from which we pick our fruit.
I am appalled by the reports that the Syrian security forces have stormed Hama with tanks and other heavy weapons this morning killing dozens of people…Such action against civilians who have been protesting peacefully in large numbers in the city for a number of weeks has no justification.
The attack appears to be part of a coordinated effort across a number of towns in Syria to deter the Syrian people from protesting in advance of Ramadan. The attacks are all the more shocking on the eve of the Muslim holy month. President Bashar is mistaken if he believes that oppression and military force will end the crisis in his country. He should stop this assault on his own people now.
Virtually every single interest we have in the Middle East, whether it‘s aiding Israel‘s search for peace and security, protecting Lebanon‘s sovereignty, preventing Iranian hegemony, undercutting Hezbollah and Hamas, nurturing Iraq‘s development, sustaining our partnership with Turkey, or just promoting democracy and human rights, is-dramatically, even exponentially-furthered by the Syrian people getting rid of the Assad regime.
We are closer [now] than we‘ve ever been to achieving peace with the Palestinians…I aim to achieve dialogue through any means possible…I don‘t want to hint at anything, because I don‘t think that such a dialogue needs to be in the newspapers. Efforts are taking place to overcome the difficulties, and I am taking part in them.