Syrian President Bashar AL-Assad said that events taking place in Syria represent an extension for attempts of invasion and distorting cultural identity of the region.
In a meeting in Damascus where the Syrian president received a number of Arab writers and intellectual figures, he “stressed that what is happening in Syria currently is an extension in one way or another for the attempts of intellectual and ideological invasion and distorting the concept of identity that have been targeting the Arab nation for over a hundred years,” SANA news agency reported.
The people of this region should adhere “the true identity of the region which is based on preserving the culturally-harmonious diversity, because losing this diversity creates an ideal environment for the spread of extremism, which in turn nurtures terrorism,” President Assad told the figures who participated in the “Arab Reality after 100 Years of the Balfour Declaration” conference which was hosted in Damascus during the past couple of days.
Assad “underlined the role of intellectual figures in making sure that Pan-Arabism doesn’t remain limited to politics, party theories, and dialogue among select groups; rather it must become a civilized concept and a social practice that bolster the concepts of belonging and identity among youths and future generations,” according to the official Syrian agency.
Source: SANA
