Suleiman Alone Negotiates on Behalf of Lebanon
MP Michel al-Murr said he wished there had been coordination between Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and President Michel Sleiman on their foreign visits. “Since Sleiman is a consensus president; he negotiates on behalf of Lebanon and he can establish good relations with Iran and Syria,” Murr said.
After meeting with US Ambassador Michele Sison on Friday, Murr said, “Throughout the past elections and alliances, Aoun used to say ‘how will we ally with Michel al-Murr when he is one of Syria’s symbols’ today it seems we met at least on this symbolic principle which he used to describe us; he has reached a belief that we were not wrong in our good relations with Syria.”
Murr said that Syria’s welcoming of Aoun was their ethical obligation and unrelated to politics.
Asked about the political significance of Aoun’s wearing of the traditional abaya in Damascus, and whether it meant that he was positioning himself as the electoral representative of Christians and Armenians, Murr said, “I do not want to talk on behalf of Tashnaq [the Armenian party], they speak for themselves and they have a position which they surely informed the Syrians of. I met with them last time, and their position was stable and did not change.”
As for the abaya, he continued, “I am thinking of wearing an abaya now if it helps in forming electoral candidate lists. As for the abaya’s color it was a sign of love and welcoming of the guest.” Murr said that he would not forget how many Syrian soldiers died during the liberation war in 1989, nor would he forget the demands for an accountability law against Syria. “Perhaps, this visit erases everything from the memory and opens a new page,” he said.
As for Aoun’s suggestion that the Taif Accord be amended, Murr said, “I wait for my basic ally Speaker Nabih Berri, who is General Aoun’s friend; if he approves the amendment of Taif, we would start discussing it.” Murr said that all Lebanese agreed on Taif and that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Berri assured him of their commitment to its full implementation. Murr said Aoun’s “adopted style” was inappropriate, if his goal was restoring the presidential privileges eliminated by Taif. “Should we destroy the country again to reach another Taif? Taif is agreed upon, if he wants to change it, it is his affair,” Murr said.