There is now a state in Syria

After the overthrow, at the hands of the people, of a bloody, criminal and dark regime that lasted 61 years, the road map of the new state established in Syria is slowly emerging. Of course, in fact, at its own natural pace and course.

Some of us, and some in Europe, from the very first day and without looking at what kind of darkness, what kind of hell the country has emerged from, have already begun to lecture us from within their own rosy worlds. When Ahmed al-Sharaa naturally pointed to at least three or four years for free and fair elections, they all but invoked the spirit of the murderer Assad for help. What could they possibly have been expecting? Elections held tomorrow? With which people, with which population inventory, under which system? Are they even aware of what they are saying with these reactions? Empty talk, of course.

Of course it is not even worth taking seriously, but we are, sadly, all too familiar with the mentality that begrudges these people even the joy of having been rid of a regime that for 61 years made millions of its people live through hell, and even begrudges them taking their own precautions out of that joy.

Thank God that those who have taken up the trust in Syria are highly competent and highly intelligent, mature people. They know very well what they are doing and what they will do. The thing everyone should know in the first place is that these people, as the ones who saved Syria after 61 years of rule by a gang of bandits, deserve great respect and appreciation. On the other hand, while governing, this cadre displays not the slightest arrogance, no exclusionary sense of vengeance, no revanchist behavior. They show no insolence out of the exhilaration of victory. The Islamic morality and principle to which they are bound already compels them in nearly every field to remain within the limits of law and morality. And as long as they remain within these limits, they are setting very exemplary models.

The stance that Ahmed Sharaa, recently declared Syria's interim President, has shown toward having his own pictures hung in squares or government offices as an icon of the revolution may even have an aspect that challenges the iconist mentality of all of today's modern governments. After the revolution in Iran, even Khomeini did not hold back from having his pictures turned into icons in this way and never objected to it at all. Let us note this down. This attitude of Sharaa and of the cadre that guides him is without doubt one of the signs that the administration in Syria will keep alive a sensibility that is more participatory, more based on consultation, and that recognizes and respects others.

For example, within the past week a National Conference Preparatory Committee was formed to prepare the Syrian Constitution and to address Syria's general course through consultation. The assessments that the Committee's spokesman Hassan Dughaim made about the committee's work after its first meetings are quite hopeful:

In his statement, Dughaim listed the Committee's Duties and Principles as follows:

"The Committee manages and develops communication among Syrians.

It facilitates discussions, the work of the council and the exchange of ideas.

It structures, analyzes and summarizes the discussions on the basis of majority views.

It does not dictate topics; it provides an environment of orderly and efficient dialogue.

Its meetings are open; there is no secret agenda or closed session.

All preparatory work, visits and initiatives are transparent and open to public debate."

The venue the Committee chose for its first meeting is very significant. At its first session, held in the city of Idlib, which served as the cradle of the Syrian revolution, the displaced citizens, the reconstruction process and the return to homes were raised as priority issues; and this matter is of vital importance especially for heavily devastated regions such as central and southern Idlib, eastern Aleppo, Homs, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and Jobar. Thousands of people are still struggling to live in tents, deprived of basic necessities, which makes the return process the greatest source of concern.

Meanwhile, the committee also directed criticism at international organizations. It was emphasized that international organizations, including the UN, have failed to achieve any real progress in Syria, and that the initiatives undertaken have amounted to nothing more than rhetoric, inconclusive meetings and ineffective shows of force. Lessons can be drawn from this process, but relying on these organizations is not realistic. In the end, it was also mentioned that the Syrian National Conference remains committed to principles of transparency and has not placed, and will not place, any restriction on communication with international actors.

At the Al Jazeera meeting in Doha titled "From the Gaza War to the Change in Syria: Changing Dynamics in the Middle East," the sensitivities that have suddenly awakened, particularly regarding possible violations of the rights of the Nusayris, also came up. The account given by an elderly Syrian who had been subjected to every kind of injustice and torture for 30 years in the Sednaya and Tadmur prisons was very moving. At the end of his words, that Syrian, every moment of whose story is a drama that would make people weep, said that it must never be overlooked that Assad's practices were entirely sectarian, and that he himself had witnessed this in every moment of what he lived through. He said that those who tortured him or others he saw did not refrain from cursing them with sectarian hatred and loathing. Despite this, he also noted that all these experiences must never be turned into a policy of revanche or vengeance against the Nusayris as a sect.

The guarantee against the sensitivity that has suddenly awakened today on behalf of those who pursued a policy of sectarian hatred and loathing for 54 years is, once again, the faith and culture of the revolutionary administration.

Is there no legal prosecution of the criminals who directly and willingly took part in the massacres and crimes against humanity that the regime in the past also committed with sectarian motives? Can there not be? Is it conceivable that there would not be? But this prosecution never targets membership of a particular sect. There are also Sunnis who were involved in the Assad regime's systematic crimes and served in the state, and they are not exempted from this prosecution on the grounds of being Sunni.

The existing legal prosecution has now been taken up by the state itself as a judicial process, remaining entirely within the line of law without turning into a random act of vengeance. Moreover, the Nusayri segment also suffered greatly from this use by the Assad regime. Assad did not make them partners in his power to the extent that he used them for his power. On the contrary, although he put them at the forefront of his greatest crimes, he promised them no life and no future. They too received their share of the misery that the Assad regime inflicted on its people. Indeed, Assad's understanding of governance was far from running a state; it had sunk to the logic of a mafia-like criminal organization. The output of the drug factories set up by the state had become the greatest problem of the whole world, first and foremost the Gulf countries.