German Foreign Minister in Syria New ruler refuses to shake Baerbock's hand
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot are traveling to Damascus. It is a generous gesture. But Baerbock does not receive a handshake.
03.01.2025, 18:59
03.01.2025, 19:08
dpa
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- Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot have traveled to Damascus.
- The Syrian de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa did not greet the Germans with a handshake.
- When asked by a journalist, Baerbock said that she had made it very clear in the conversation with al-Sharaa that women's rights are very important for a free society.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had to do without a handshake from de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa during her visit to Damascus.
"Even when I arrived, it was clear to me that there would obviously be no ordinary handshakes here," said the Green politician in response to a question from a journalist. But it had also been made clear to the Islamist hosts that they disapproved of this practice, said Baerbock.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, with whom she had traveled to Damascus on behalf of the EU, had also not extended his hand for a handshake.
Above all, it was made clear during the talks that women's rights are an indicator of how free a society is, said Baerbock. At the end of the conversation, a handshake no longer seemed quite so difficult. It was reported from delegation circles that al-Sharaa had extended his hand again at the end of the conversation, but that there had been no further handshake.
Al-Sharaa, leader of the Islamist rebel group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), had received Baerbock and Barrot in the former palace of long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad in the capital Damascus, which was overthrown around four weeks ago. While the Islamist did not greet Baerbock with a handshake, he extended his hand to Barrot. After the Frenchman had initially placed his right hand on the region of his heart in greeting, he then briefly grasped al-Sharaa's hand.
The former head of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Volker Perthes, saw the refusal to shake hands as a bad sign. "This is not good, even if we know this from other countries where extremely conservative Islamic men are in power: Iran, for example, and until some time ago Saudi Arabia," Perthes told Stern magazine. He added: "This is not part of the tradition in Syria. I hope that al-Sharaa will also be criticized for this in Syria."
