Syria’s ruler refuses to shake hands with Baerbock

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her visit to Damascus have to forego a handshake from de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa.

“As soon as I arrived, it was clear to me that it was obvious here will not give ordinary handshakes“, said the Green politician when asked by a journalist. But it was also made clear to the Islamist hosts that that this practice is disapproved of, said Baerbock. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, with whom she traveled to Damascus on behalf of the EU, also did not extend his hand for a handshake.

Above all, it was made clear in the conversation 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 that difficult. It was heard from delegation circles that al-Sharaa at the end of the conversation I stretched out my hand again but then there was no longer a handshake.

Al-Sharaa, leader of the Islamist rebel group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), welcomed Baerbock and Barrot in the former palace of long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown around four weeks ago, in the capital Damascus. While the Islamist did not greet Baerbock with a handshake, he held out his hand to Barrot. After the Frenchman first placed his right hand on the heart area as a greeting, he then briefly took al-Sharaa’s hand.

The former head of the Science and Politics Foundation, Volker Perthes, rated the refused handshake as bad sign. “That’s not good, even if we know it from other countries where extremely conservative Islamic men are in power: Iran, for example, and until some time ago also Saudi Arabia,” Perthes told the “Stern.” He added: “This is not part of the tradition in Syria. I hope that al-Sharaa will also be criticized for this in Syria.”