Lebanese Forces efforts to unify ranks with opposition forces underway and in advanced state - Dr. Richard Kouyoumdjian

It was a pleasure for me to interview Lebanese Forces External relations coordinator Dr, Richard Kouyoumdjian, 

Mr. Richard Kouyoumdjian  please allow me to call you comrade, I have accompanied the Lebanese Phalange and the Lebanese forces since 1996, and we are both Cedar Revolutionists

Question

Mr. Kouyoumdjian, lately the case of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon came into spotlight, do you trust the current officials efforts in this matter, what is the estimate and evaluation of the Lebanese Forces

Answer

I already have answered this question in detail a few days ago on these links:
https://www.lebanese-forces.com/2022/09/22/richard-kouyoumjian-311/ 

قيومجيان: عودة اللاجئين السوريين بحاجة أولاً لدولة لبنانية

-Question

One of the most questions a lot of Lebanese ask, is there a readiness or already a status of approach between the Lebanese Phalange and the Lebanese forces, and former parties of what was known as the Lebanese Front (Ahrar, Kataeb, Lebanese Forces…)

Answer

Regarding the issue of go we Lebanese Forces try to reproach other Political parties, like the Lebanese Kata2eb Phalange party, the Lebanese National Liberal party (Ahrar), now there is a very important Entitlement, which is the Lebanese Presidential elections, the Lebanese Forces are dedicating serious efforts to unite all the parties to establish a united stance regarding this Entitlement, because our main goal and objective is to prevent the arrival of a president from 8 March coalition, loyal to Hizbullah,

We need a president who is in favor of Lebanese Sovereignty, seeks reforms, and salvation of the country, and a president who seeks to achieve these goals, and cannot be a president who is subject to Hizbulah, or Free Patriotic Movement, or the Shiite couple, that is why our strategy is to try to unite the opposition, that is why it is natural that we try to reproach these parties and of course the Phalange party is among them

I am glad to say that we have made serious advancement in these attempts, we made serious approach with the Kataeb, and the Ahrar, and of course there are a lot of independent members of parliament, who are in favor of Lebanese Sovereignty, like the ‘tajadound” block, who lately visited Dr. Samir Gaeage,

Not only these three blocks, there are also a lot of deputies who are Pro-sovereignty, and even there are MPs of the Change bloc who met with the Lebanese Forces leader Doctor Gaegae, and of course there are other Change bloc deputies who are against this approach, but most of them are with the approach with the Lebanese forces and with uniting ranks

Our goal is to reach a united vision, so we can agree on the program and even on a united candidate so we may present him to this electoral battle

Concerning the Progressive Socialist Party, their approach is close to us, the Durzi base is with our vision the Sunni base is with our vision, Walid Junblat vision is close to ours, despite the fact that he met with Hizbullah, he also refuses a president from Hizbulla camp and 8 March, we are also trying to unite our stance with him

We are also meeting with Sunni MPs, to unite the ranks and wage this fight with them united

-Question

The Lebanese presidential elections are ahead does the Lebanese Forces has a certain candidate, what are the characteristics and qualities that the Lebanese Forces expects in the upcoming President

Answer

So far, we do not have a declared candidate, but for me personally and for the most of our comrades, our natural candidate is Dr. Samir Gaegae, because he has qualities and characteristics that allow him to be the leader at this phase, and he has the potential to lead the salvation of the country

As for qualities, of course Dr. Gaegae has these qualities that we want, but so far he is not a declared candidate, and he is so far trying to make way for other candidates who may have the required candidates

We are ready to sacrifice, for the common good, if a united consensus is not provided around Samir Gaegae we can agree on another candidate, of course that candidate must believe in sovereignty of the country, sovereignty of the state, and that there must not exist any military entity in Lebanon outside the Lebanese state and Lebanese Army, and that he must work for the restoration of Lebanon’s relations with the Arabic surrounding, because Lebanon was in insolation with the Arabic world and the international community,

Of course he must be a president who is not corrupt, does not make deals and share of the country riches, clean, strong, a strong president, who can unite all Lebanese, and who has a strong personality to be able to guard the state, and who is respected by both Lebanese and the international community

A president who restores and brings back the strategic decision of the state, brings back and restores the foreign policy to the Lebanese state,  the defense strategy, in short, restores and brings back the strategic decision of the country to the Lebanese state,
 

We are not asking for anything special, what we are asking is the natural standard of every country, that the president respects, enforces and defends the Lebanese constitution, in the constitution is is clearly stated the guidelines and basics of respecting the authority of the state and the rise of the state

A president who respects the international resolutions, the Taef Agreement, international resolutions 1559, 1710, 1680

-Question

A lot of Lebanese ask, at least I do, that why should we feel optimistic, 14 March coalition twice enjoyed parliamentary majority, both times with more than 70 members of parliament, and yet it failed to realize its declared goals, today, even if it by a miracle forms a coalition with the other forces, it will have a slight majority, maybe 66 deputies, why should we feel optimistic, especially after everything collapsed in Lebanon

Answer

We are unable to compare the situation today to the situation and days of the rise of 14 march, at that time Cheikh Saad el Harriri ws present,  inside the political spectrum, we must deal with the reality as it is, we now must deal with the situation with the forces that are active on the ground, but we must also note that at that time,  Cheikh Harrory chose to keep the conflict with a status of cooexistence with Hizbullah, he chose to make a settlement with Hizbullah and President Aoun, today he is outside the  political spectrum, therefore we must look at the political map in a different approach,

Now the current majority is working to unite its ranks, I can understand the frustration from the previous experiences, but today the forces of change, opposition and sovereignty must unite, we have no other choice, if we had failed experience in the past, it does not mean we must today stop trying,

One must never stop trying, and we the Lebanese Forces have faith in this struggle and we will keep up the fight,

We are firm on our principles, others were the one who changes and made compromises, settlements, even when we made a settlement with President Michel Aoun, everything was declared and publicly written, all the principles, we had hoped that President Aoun would abide with these principles so that we would be able to restore and regain the state, unfortunately he did not, but we are firm and loyal to these principles

Since 1975 we have been firm to our principles, maybe others change their position, but not us,

We hope that the new forces that the 2022 elections brought to the political equation, that we all unite our ranks, if they do not run parallel to this unification, what can we do, but our goals, political orientation and path is clear, and we are not afraid of hardship, we will carry on with our path, no matter how this path carries hardships along the way

Question

Mr. Kouyoumdjian, it seems that Iran and USA will reach an agreement, the deal seems to have much matured, now are  the Lebanese Forces worried that in case such an agreement is reached the USA focus and interest on Lebanese will decrease, and it will be less motivated to battle Iranian influence in Lebanon

Answer

Regarding the Iranian USA agreement negotiations, which is called JCPOA, the developments showed that this agreement is stumbled, Iran is making unreasonable demands and demanding almost impossible terms, and she is not abiding by the terms of the agreement, even the most basic, there are sites that traces of Uranium were found and Iran is not allowing for the inspectors to search them, therefore I do not see any agreement soon between Europe, USA and Iran regarding the nuclear file of Iran

Regardless, even if this agreement takes place, or not, for us the interests of our country is above all, we are against Iranian intervention in the region, now in the agreement, they are not focused on the Iranian expansion case in the region, and the Iranian arms in the region, their proxies, and the issues that Iran is creating in the entire region, In Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon

Today it Iraq, the Iraqi people are uprising, to return Iraq to the Arabic environment, there are Iraqi forces who now want the Iraqi decision to be an Iraqi decision, an Arabic decision, not subjected to Iranian influence, We in Lebanon, are also standing a firm barricade to stand and resist the Iranian influence inside our country

If Iran seeks to control the region, that is her decision and business, our concern is our country, and we hope that the super powers, not only focus on the Iranian nuclear case but also its expansion and ambitions to control the region, unfortunately they are not always focusing on this point, despite the fact that that is a dangerous issue, which is a project to control a region ranging from Iraq to Yemen, Syria and Lebanon

We want our country to be independent, and refuse Iranian and Hizbulla hegemony, regardless of its plans in the region; we hope the major powers focus on this danger, because it affects Lebanon

Question

The regime in Syria, despite enormous losses on every level, managed to survive, granted it is much weaker now, yet it might return to the Arabic family and therefore attempt to return to the Lebanese political scene, does this worry the Lebanese Forces

Answer,

No, I am not worried, Syria is too weak, it can neither return to Lebanon nor control it, today Hizbulla is stronger than Suria and it is the main problem,  of course Hizbulla and Syrian regime are allies, but the Syrian regime leaves no occasion or opportunity to try to interfere in Lebanon, there were two explosions  in two Mosques in Tripoli, that it turned out that the Syrian intelligence was involved, and of course the case of Michel Semaha, who was arrested, it turned out that he brought explosives from Syria to be used in terrorist explosions in Lebanon,

Syrians still have interest in Lebanon, but of course it is a negative interest they do anything they can to increase their hegemony in Lebanon,

But today Syrian regime is too weak to try to control Lebanon, like it did years ago, in addition we Lebanese are now aware of this Syrian regime intentions, therefore today I do not see a direct Syrian influence upon the Lebanese political field, today Syria is weak, divided, it has between 12 and 14 million Syrians who have migrated from the country

The Syrian people are starving; their social economical financial situation is very unfortunate,

It is true that the regime survived, it is a dictator regime who oppressed its own people,  but today it shares influence and power with many other forces, Hizbullah, Iran, Russia, Russian forces who have saved the regime at the last moment, there are areas under Kurdish control, under the control of USA troops, Turkish, therefore Syrian regime is divided, scattered, and even if it tries to enter Lebanon or influence, we Lebanese Forces and Lebanese are here to  prevent it

Thank you Mr. Kouyoumdjian for a very valuable interview

Peter Manoukian
A Lebanese Armenian in Armenia