(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)
Amman Feb. 2 (Petra)--The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet conducted an interview with His Majesty King Abdullah II.
Next is a transcript of the interview excerpts of which were aired on Tuesday:
Lyse Doucet: You've been saying for years that Jordan simply cannot take any more Syrian refugees. What do you say to Europe?
His Majesty King Abdullah II: In the psyche of the Jordanian people I think it has gotten to a boiling point. Jordanians are suffering from trying to find jobs; the pressure on the infrastructure for the government; it has hurt us when it comes to the educational system our healthcare; people just Jordanians trying to get along with their lives. Sooner or later I think the dam is going to burst. This week is going to be very important for Jordanians to see is there going to be help not only for Syrian refugees but for their own future as well.
Lyse Doucet: So is this the week of the red line? Jordan is saying if you don't give us significant long-term support to develop our economy if you don't give us access to European markets we can't take in more Syrian refugees. That's what your Prime Minister is saying.
His Majesty King Abdullah II:
This is a red line but also how can Jordan sustain itself and continue; and the importance of Jordan as being a country of stability for the whole region and also a contributor to stability beyond the borders of Jordan. The international community always asked us to do more than the size of our country. We are part of a coalition against extremism not only in Syria and Iraq but throughout the world.
Whenever the international community has asked for Jordan to fight the good fight alongside of our colleagues all over the international community we have never said no.
What we are asking now for the first time is the international community we have always stood shoulder-to-shoulder by your side; we are now asking for your help you can't say no this time around to us.
Lyse Doucet: What if they say no in the sense they don't give you enough support.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: Well then we are going to have to look at things in a different way but how can we be a contributor to regional stability if we are let down by the international community. And by the way they realise that if they don't help Jordan it is going to make it more difficult for them to be able to deal with the refugee crisis. And to be honest all the leaders that we talk to know that by helping Jordan they are actually helping themselves more. So it is in their vested interests.
Lyse Doucet: Even with all this you are still under pressure to take in more Syrian refugees there's some 16000 who are stranded in no-man's land on the border with Syria. Are you going to let them in?
His Majesty King Abdullah II: Well we are taking roughly 50-100 a day which is from a security aspect the normal amount that we can take from a security aspect point-of-view. That happens normally on a given day.
Lyse Doucet: What security aspect there?
His Majesty King Abdullah II: The security aspect is to make sure that decent people come across the border and not Daesh or ISIS or terrorists come across the border.
Lyse Doucet: Do you have evidence that they are linked to this Daesh or the so-called Islamic State? But now as we speak are some of them trying to come in that linked to.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: They have been trying to come in since the crisis started. So that's usual refugee procedures.
Now what you are talking about is a completely separate group out in the eastern desert that come from Raqqa up in the north of Syria and Hasaka and to an extent slightly southeast.
Lyse Doucet: Territory controlled by the so-called Islamic State.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: What we call Daesh.
Lyse Doucet: Daesh.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: We know that inside that camp are Daesh elements; and so they are going through a very strong vetting system. We do process dozens of them every single day. The priority is given to the children the women and the elderly. All top medical cases do come over. We are treating them and actually quite a few of them do end up staying in Jordan. It is in a military zone but having said that our government our military UN and NGOs are actually across the border in those camps. We have a clinic set up and we are trying to look after them.
Lyse Doucet: So you are going to let them in.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: At this stage we let them in as they are being vetted.
There is pressure from the international community to let them in but we're saying to everybody this is a major national security problem for all of us. Some people are saying so why don't you let the women in; but as we have seen in Paris and as we have seen in California women are also part of terrorist strikes around the world.
So this is for us a red line. We are trying to process them as quickly as possible; but again we throw back to the international community and to those countries that have been very difficult to us; saying that at the end of the day we have already taken 1.4 million people. If you are going to take the higher moral ground on this issue we'll get them all to an airbase and we're more than happy to relocate them to your country if what you are saying is they are only 16000. Considering the amount of people we have taken into our country; if you want to help the refugee problem 16000 refugees to your country I don't think is that much of a problem.
Lyse Doucet: Has anyone taken up your offer?
His Majesty King Abdullah II: Of course not.
Lyse Doucet: But if they don't Europe is saying to you we don't want any more refugees. You're saying you don't want any more refugees. Where will they go?
His Majesty King Abdullah II: We will continue to bring them across in limited numbers. We will continue to look after them on the other side and we will continue to vet them. So it is going to take time because we cannot afford a terrorist incident to be in our country.
Lyse Doucet: How big is the danger in Jordan? Your Prime Minister warned about sleeper cells of this Daesh.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: A prime example is this refugee camp; and we have picked-up a lot of people that have crossed the border over the past four-five years that are linked to ISIS and other organisations. It is an on-going problem as you faced in Europe and in the other parts of the world. That's the reality of the world that we are living in; so to have pressure by certain groups of just looking the other way and letting refugees in just because they say we have to and then open our society to a potential terrorist strike somewhere along the line we have to put our foot down.
Lyse Doucet: And yet you know the real solution to this is an end to the war in Syria. A political solution: It is nowhere in sight.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: Well for the first time with all difficult odds stacked up against the process is what we are seeing in Geneva and the Vienna talks. Because the alternative is as you say no hope; and the only thing that is going for Syria at the moment is that there are state institutions still functioning. For how long? Once those state institutions crumble then there will be no capability to govern Syria from an ability to reach out to the people the people will suffer more there will be more refugee problems for all of us in Europe including the region. And the only people who win will be the terrorist organisations. So the only thing that we have the only light at the end of the tunnel are these talks.
Lyse Doucet:Is the Russian intervention a game changer? It is clear that the pattern of their bombing their diplomacy is aimed at strengthening President Assad.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: Well it shook up the tree because before that really we have had six years of pretty much the same thing.
Lyse Doucet: But what fell from the tree? People are saying the bombing is not primarily against Daesh the so-called Islamic State it is against the opposition forces some of whom are backed by your government and by the west.
His Majesty King Abdullah II: Well I won't get into the details of who said what and who did what because that doesn't help at this stage.
Lyse Doucet: But that is reality. They are bombing in southern Syria close to your border.
His Majesty King Abd-ullah II: We did have an initial ceasefire that ceasefire has broken. We hope that ceasefire will come back into effect. But having said that it has galvanised everybody to get to the peace talks because if we don't it is going to unravel into a very messy a messier situation in Syria.
So we have had the talks that started in Geneva and I think at the end of the day between you and I is can we get from the western-eastern perspective based on sort of old Cold War mentality can Washington and Moscow look to the future and understand that we are actually dealing with something worse than the Cold War. We are dealing with the khawarej the outlaws of Islam. That is the global threat. And I am hoping that Vienna will dawn on all the players that that's where the common ground is. And if that can happen then Syria could have a political solution. That is the only thing we got going for us at this point of time. If not then the state's infrastructure will fall apart. It will be a disaster for the Syrian people and the bad people will win.
2/2/2016 - 02:54:35 PM
" />
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.