Azerbaijan, Baku, May 7 / Trend, A. Taghiyeva /
Wide-ranging reforms in Syria will lead to changes in both domestic and foreign policy of the country, and any change in the Syrian policy threatens Iran's interests, so Tehran is against holding wide-ranging reforms by Damascus, European expert of Iranian origin Alireza Nourizadeh believes.
"Assad's regime serves Iran's interests in the region, therefore, Tehran does not support reforms to change the country's policy," Nourizadeh told Trend over phone from London.
He said on the other hand, Iran realizes that the Syrian authorities' compromise towards the people evidences that Assad's regime practically lost its legitimacy.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi during his visit to Qatar welcomed holding reforms in Syria, stressing that the Syrian President Bashar Assad thus considers his people's aspiration. Ali Akbar Salehi condemned foreign interference in Syria's internal affairs.
Anti-government riots in Syria began in Deraa on March 25. The reason for riots was the arrest of teenagers writing anti-government slogans on walls. These riots later spread to other parts of the country. The population went on streets demanding the release of arrested students. Demonstrations were held in the cities of Latakia, Baniyas, Homs, Hama, and in several suburbs of Damascus.
According to opposition, during the clashes with law enforcement agencies in Syria, more than 500 people died so far. According to official data, announced by the SANA agency last Thursday, clash victims hit 70 civilians, 78 soldiers and police.
Nourizadeh said that the Iranian authorities' statements that Tehran supports reforms started by the Syrian President are "insincere", as the Iranian authorities, which faced protests in their country, arranged by opposition in 2009 after the presidential elections, brutally suppressed the demonstrations and took no steps to meet the people's demands.
"How can the Iranian authorities support reforms in Syria, when Tehran brutally suppresses any demonstration in the country?" he added.
Serious demonstrations of the opposition in Tehran came after the announcement of results of the presidential elections held on June 12, 2009. According to the CEC, current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the elections gaining 66 percent of the votes. One of the candidates of the losing side Mir-Hossein Mousavi, accusing the government of falsification of the election results, called on people to join the protests. During the clashes, according to official figures, 20 people were killed, while according to unofficial data, clashes killed 150 people and 1,032 demonstrators were arrested. Most of them were released later.
According to a Swedish expert on the Middle East, Nasser al-Ghazzali, Iran is worried about losing its ally - the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with whose help Iran can keep the situation in the region under control.
"Iran and Syria are bounded with long-standing strategic interests," al-Ghazzali told Trend over telephone from Stockholm.
Commenting on Syrian President's promises to hold reforms al-Ghazzali said that the consequences of the abolition of emergency in the country prove the failure of holding other reforms in Syria.
"After lifting emergency in Syria, the army continued to fire at civilians. This proves that Syria does not need reforms, but concrete actions, that is, the fall of Assad's regime," he added.
With regard to the fact whether possible power change in Syria will affect the relations between Tehran and Damascus, al-Ghazzali said that whoever is in power in Syria, he will establish friendly relations with neighboring countries, and power change will not fundamentally affect the relations with Iran.
"Damascus will pursue a policy of "minimum of aggression and problems" towards the neighboring countries, especially towards the countries that will support Syria in the fight against Israel," he added.