Are Ukraine's leaders on the wrong side of history once again?
In a sign of how desperate the increasingly isolated Syrian president has become amid his deadly crackdown on the opposition, Bashar al-Assad received a delegation representing Ukraine’s marginal Communist Party, which flew in to provide moral support.
Amid international outcry at the deaths of some 7,500 people over the last year, three lawmakers from the Communist faction in parliament arrived in Damascus to meet Assad and other officials from March 3 to March 7.
“Our position as the Communist Party is full support of Syrian leadership,” Yevhen Tsarkov, one of the lawmakers, told the Kyiv Post following his visit.
While the West has censured Assad over his use of the army to suppress the opposition, Ukraine’s official position has been more cautious.
“The government should stop using force, and forceful seizure of power on the part of rebels is also unacceptable,” said Oleh Voloshyn, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
The Communists, however, have gone a step further, expressing solidarity with Assad. Since using force to crush political opposition last year, Syria’s international friends have been limited largely to countries such as China, Iran and Russia, though the Kremlin appears to have recently softened its support by calling for a ceasefire and end to the bloodshed.
But Tsarkov’s assessment of the situation in Syria chimes with that of the Syrian authorities. He said radicals, foreign agents and Western governments are plotting to destabilize the country and overthrow the government.
He said Syrian authorities are not using force against opposition and anti-government protesters.
Assad has ruled Syria with an iron fist since taking over for his father in 2000.
Communist Party lawmaker Yevhen Tsarkov
Why do Communists, who trace their roots to Vladimir Lenin’s toppling of the Russian czar, support a monarchy-styled dictatorship?
Political analyst Vadym Karasiov said it’s no surprise that Communists support Assad’s rule as “both share anti-American, anti-democratic sentiment and have common socialist roots.”
The Communists have traditionally supported the anti-American authoritarian regimes in Venezuela and Cuba.
The Communist lawmakers – Tsarkov, Alla Aleksandrovska and Serhiy Khrapov – are members of an parliamentary group on relations with Syria. Deputies from opposition and pro-presidential parties who are members of the group declined the invitation to visit Damascus.
Many Western countries have slapped Syria with an arms embargo after the bloodshed commenced last year. But Tsarkov urged Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych to support Assad and improve bilateral trade.
Our position as the Communist Party is full support of Syrian leadership.
– Yevhen Tsarkov, Communist Party lawmaker
In 2010, Ukraine and Syria said they wanted to launch a free-trade zone, but that deal never came into force amid the current turmoil there. Trade turnover between Ukraine and Syria was hit hard by the economic crisis of 2008, dropping to $691 million in 2010, 41 percent down from the record high $1.17 billion in 2008.
Syria is the one of Ukraine’s biggest importers in the Middle East, buying metal, grain and sunflower oil.
Prior to the uprising in Syria, Assad was received by Yanukovych in Kyiv in December 2010. The two leaders said they wanted to deepen the countries’ relations and sign a free-trade agreement.
Syrian Ambassador to Ukraine Mohamed Said Akil last month praised Ukraine’s position of “non-interference in Syria’s internal affairs” in an interview with Gazeta 2000 newspaper.
Tsarkov warned that Yanukovych should take a clearer position in support of Assad – or potentially face the same fate of leaders in North Africa and the Middle East who have been overthrown by protests in the past year.
“Yanukovych is making a mistake by not taking a definite position toward Syria. He is afraid of the West,” Tsarkov said.
“If he continues to behave in such a conformist way, then no one can guarantee that at some point [his luxurious suburban residence] Mezhyhirya will not be invaded by people on a bulldozer who will topple him.”
Political analyst Karasiov said Yanukovych would be better served to come out “on the right side of history,” supporting people rather than authoritarian leaders.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected].
