Translated material
"Family Album" Bashara Assad
The Syrian Ahmud, who, after the beginning of hostilities in Syria, moved to Istanbul, says that the cult of Assad in the country has flourished in the last years, but it was not always planted. Syrian refugees arriving in Turkey also say that Assad actually at first became a favorite of the people. Many respectfully called him "Dr. Assad", despite his youth. Bashar Assad inherited the presidential post at the age of 34. The young president announced that the era of stagnation was over. He promised to limit the cult of personality, conduct market liberalization, open access to foreign banks and develop the tourist sector. He took under the wing of young Syrians, middle -class representatives, youth from wealthy family, who, like him, received education abroad and wanted to trade with European countries. However, he did not want to reform the existing system. The former retired military man Ahmet Dergy explains this by the fact that "the associates of Father Assad, military officers and party officials, influential Alawit relatives were more afraid of death." “The arrests of the opposition were followed, the rallies began to disperse, municipal elections failed, and the law on the press was not adopted. The country flourished theft and bribery among officials. Assad sent opposition and journalists to prison. “Damascus Spring” ended without having time to begin, ”says Dergy.
Younger brother, cousin, as well as an older sister
Family photographs of the Syrian president are regularly published in the Turkish press . Search for Turkish Google gives a whole photo album. In the photo, all members of the clan. The wife of the dictator of Asma, the former employee of the German bank, which Assad met in London, during an internship at the British ophthalmology center. His younger brother Mahir, commander of the Republican Guard, under which more than twelve thousand soldiers and officers are located. They say that he more than once took part in military operations and, according to eyewitnesses, shot oppositionists with his own hands. Rami Maluf, cousin of Assad, the owner of the largest mobile operator, oil and airlines, who, according to Turkish newspapers, leads all the financial affairs of the family. In Syria, Rami received the nickname "Five percent." Such was the Mazda that Rami received as an intermediary from every major transaction. It was reported that after the start of hostilities, Rami began to sell his business and send the proceeds to help the regime. The older sister of Assad Bushra became a rebel because she went against the will of the family, choosing to her husband her guard, an unknown officer of the Syrian army Asif Shavkat. After marriage, the husband received the post of head of the Syrian intelligence. A teacher of the history of the Istanbul school abbrequent duty, which tracked the Assad clan, says that Asif prefers to stay in the shade and appears little in public. “He is suspected of eliminating many oppositionists and organizing the murder of former Prime Minister Lebanon Rafik Hariri,” he notes the duty. “It seems that the uncles, cousins, brothers and other relatives of the president are governing the country together.”
The mother of President Assad, the seventy -year -old Anisa Assad, who is at the head of the family clan and, according to rumors, actually runs Syria, in Turkey they call “anessa Sultan”. A representative of the old family of Mahluf, a strong -willed, powerful, strong woman led to the power of the father of the current president of Hafes Assad, a professional military. At the insistence of his mother, Bashar entered the French Lyceum, then the university, and later went to the UK to improve his knowledge. Anisa instilled a love of religion. All the men of the Assad family belong to the Alavites community, or Nusayrites, named after the founder of the sect Muhammad ibn Nusayra, who lived in the second half of the 9th century. The number of this community influential in Syria is about 12 percent of the entire Muslim population of the country. The Sunnis consider the Alavites heretics due to the fact that they depart from the generally accepted norms of Islam: they believe in the relocation of souls, retain the cult of the sun, stars and moon, deify Jesus, celebrate Christian Christmas and Easter. On the advice of the mother, in order to strengthen the connection between the Islamic communities, Bashar marries a representative of a wealthy Syrian family from Europe, who preaches the Sunni faith.
A teacher of the history of Istanbul school by Abrahim debt notes that these are the traditions of many oriental dynasties. The Palace of the Ottoman Sultan also led Cafalida or Valide Sultan, the mother of the Sultan, who actually had unlimited power and stood behind all the decisions of her son. Anisa Assad was always very close to her son, actually raised him while his father was engaged in her older brother, whom he was preparing for the post of successor. When the brother died in a car disaster, a new heir to the dynasty was needed. The choice fell on Bashar, who headed the Syrian branch of the Baas party and became the president of Syria. “However, he is still under the influence of his mother. Until now, behind closed doors, her voice has the power of the truth of the last instance, ”says the duty.
Assad as a victim of a family
Perhaps this is a controversial opinion, but many experts in Turkey believe that the president was trapped in power. “He planned to live his life quietly and calmly,” writes the central newspaper Vatan, “chose the most peaceful profession of an eye doctor on earth, however, he was destined for the fate of the dictator.” The end of the quote. The childhood friend of Bashar al -Assad, a former army general Manaf Tlass, who left Syria in July this year, said that friends called him a “nerd”. He loved to sit at the computer, read a lot, was the president of the chess club. Assad is afraid to make decisions, cannot control the situation, and most often relies on a family circle or closest political advisers.
And the Istanbul psychologist Akhmet Kaidakla completely believes that Assad has a complex. “He wants to be like his strong father, who was a professional military man. However, Assad himself has no military leadership experience. Sometimes it seems that he does not know what to do, ”Kaydakly remarks. It is this complex that the psychologist explains the cruelty against the people, bloodshed, bombing, the use of tanks, helicopters, artillery against civilians. He is sure that Assad can take even greater cruelty so that no one can see his cowardice.
The son of the former Minister of Internal Affairs and a friend of Bashar al -Assad from childhood Manaf Tlas told Turkish journalists that he repeatedly called for stopping bloodshed in the country. “Syria has turned into a non -existent state. Oil exports have been suspended, electricity supply was stopped, many areas are left without heat and light. The currency reserves of the Central Bank decreased from $ 22 billion to ten billion. Anarchy reigns. There are no local authorities, the courts and the police do not work. ” The regime, according to Tlas, will go to everything, even to the physical destruction of all disagreed citizens. “Preservation of their own power for the country's leadership is more important than people who live there,” the officer believes.
The disgraced generals who have fled from Syria, who crossed the side of the opposition military, say that Assad has a tendency to bow to strong personalities. The leader of the Hezbollah Lebanese Shiite movement, Sheikh Hassan Nasell, causes special feelings for the Syrian president. According to Manaf Tlas, Assad loves in Naughty the missing qualities and tries to adopt brilliant oratory. The rhetoric of both leaders is also similar - both declare Israel their main enemy, both call to unite in the struggle against “world Zionism” with Iran. The Iranian authorities send weapons to Syria, intelligence agents to observe the rebels, help to circumvent the embargo. Naughty, for his part, also helps Syria, although he says that he is not going to interfere in the Syrian conflict. On caricatures in Turkish magazines, Assad is depicted in the company of closest friends: Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hasan Nasellla and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
