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ORSAM<br />
CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STRATEGIC STUDIES<br />
Mustafa Hatib Abdulgafur suggests that the<br />
civil war stemmed from the revolt of young<br />
generation for freedom against the oppression<br />
of the Ba’ath Regime.<br />
Mustafa Hatib Abdulgafur abu Shahabeddin:<br />
I am 65 years old. I have 5 children and I<br />
am a retired imam.<br />
ORSAM: Could you tell us about your life<br />
before the civil war in Syria, what you went<br />
through during the civil war and the reasons<br />
why you came to Turkey?<br />
Mustafa Hatib Abdulgafur abu Shahabeddin:<br />
Nobody prevents us from performing<br />
our religion and our religious duties in Syria.<br />
However, some restrictions were imposed in<br />
lessons and khutbahs. We cannot mention<br />
the cruelty of tyrant. We cannot interpret<br />
some verses from the Qoran. We cannot talk<br />
about some issues at all.<br />
Our children study, but they cannot take office<br />
in crucial positions within state institutions.<br />
We are always appointed to second<br />
class positions. Even current Ministers cannot<br />
make political statements and comments,<br />
even if they are Sunni. Only Head of the State,<br />
Ba’ath Party members and Foreign Minister<br />
have the control. We have a symbolic assembly<br />
and a symbolic Council of Ministers.<br />
The same problem is observed also in Parliamentary<br />
elections, municipal elections, and<br />
mukhtar elections. Those who are not from<br />
Ba’ath cannot even become candidate.<br />
From each district, 15 20 people go to the<br />
polls in Presidential elections. Others do not<br />
even go to the polls but when the election<br />
results are announced, voter turnout is 90%.<br />
In our system, neighborhood mukhtar or village<br />
headman are not elected but they are appointed,<br />
and they do not receive salary, nor<br />
do they have a social security. The civil war,<br />
conflict, and opposition stemmed as a result<br />
of this. No matter what your position, rank<br />
or character is, you are nothing if you are not<br />
from the Ba’ath party and if you are Sunni.<br />
The person with lowest rank gives order to<br />
the one with highest rank, he disobeys.<br />
The old were ignorant, and they put up with<br />
it. The new generation, on the other hand,<br />
54<br />
ORSAM<br />
Report No: 157, May 2013
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