The Iman Foundation
PROMOTING DIALOGUE • CHALLENGING EXTREMISM • BRINGING CHANGE

Ribal Al-Assad speaks at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Chairman of the IMAN Foundation, Ribal Al-Assad, recently spoke at the prestigious Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev on the subject of tackling religious extremism.

Taras Shevchenko National University is the third oldest university in Ukraine and consists of fifteen faculties and five institutes. It was founded in 1834 as the Kiev Imperial University of Saint Vladimir and has produced many famous alumni including Nikolay Bunge, Mykhailo Drahomanov, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mikhail Bulgakov, Viacheslav Chornovil, Leonid Kravchuk, and many others.

In his speech to students he spoke of the dangers of radicalisation and the importance of eradicating extremist groups in combating the problem.

He went on to add that the international community should not have allowed the peaceful uprising in Syria to be hijacked by extremists and it should not have allowed some Gulf states, as well as Turkey, to train, arm, fund and give safe passage to the Islamist rebels.

Ribal noted how this allowed the regime to gain more support by telling the world it was fighting extremists and not a peaceful and genuine democratic movement.

He was adamant that there can be no place for Islamists at the negotiating table and their only goal is to murder all minorities and those who do not share their perverted belief. He stressed that the Islamists only goal is to install an Islamic Caliphate and that they will stop at nothing less.

Ribal concluded by saying that much more needs to be done by the international community to bring an end to the crisis and how he believed that the only solution to the conflict is a diplomatic one with all those who have a genuine belief in freedom and democracy and who are willing to commit to it.

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