As he said that the borders with Turkey have become borders of smuggling arms and terrorists, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that Damascus would not change its stance despite the intensified sanctions.

As he said that the borders with Turkey have become borders of smuggling arms and terrorists, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that Damascus would not change its stance despite the intensified sanctions.

In part four of an interview with Turkish daily Cumhurieyt, the Syrian leader said: “These borders (Turkish) have turned into borders for smuggling arms and infiltrating terrorists into Syria."

When asked for how long Syria could stand up in the face of the very influential blockade decisions on it, the President stressed that "Since we have rights, since we have dignity and since we are patriots, no matter how intensified the sanctions get, they will not make us change our stances."

He added that issue "is not one of selling principles for money, food or foreign aid, otherwise we would have to justify the attitude of any corrupt person who sold his honor for money, and this is categorically unacceptable for us in Syria in principle and form the moral perspective."

The President dismissed as untrue claims that Syria was exploiting the existing crisis between it and Turkey to provide support to the Kurdistan Labor Party, that has escalated its military operations over the past period, through allowing it to operate on the Syrian territories near the border with Turkey.

He attributed this way of thinking to those who have the habit of treachery and think the same way of other people, stressing that "treachery is not of our values," and that security priorities in a country become different when this country is facing troubles as the situation cannot be perfectly controlled and the movement of any group becomes easier.

"I believe if there was a security disorder in Turkey now, it is because of the Turkish government's policies, and [Turkey] wants to lay responsibility upon others," President Assad told the Cumhurieyt, according to state news agency, SANA.

Asked on his vision of the Kurdish issue on the regional level, President al-Assad said "We have to believe that the power of the homeland or the power of nationalism lies in its variety…ethnic, regional and cultural diversity."
He added that the problem is that some of the cultural components in the region were exploited for political goals as they were put in conflict with the national or nationalist interest.