Naharnet

Aoun: Atmosphere in Bkirki was Positive, But the Ice Was Not Broken

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun described the atmosphere at Tuesday’s Christian meeting as “positive and reassuring”.

He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: ““The ice was not broken, but a discussion that may turn into a dialogue was launched, and this is comforting to the Lebanese.”

He added that other meetings will be held to follow up on this one.

The Bkirki meeting included Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, and Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh.

“We talked honestly about the reason each individual was present at the meeting,” the MP stated.

Asked about his meeting with Geagea, Aoun responded: “I don’t give opinions about people.”

Addressing the government formation process and the president’s role in this matter, he said: “No one is usurping the president’s authority. His privileges and those of the prime minister are stipulated in the constitution.”

“President Michel Suleiman has the right the form a government, and we have the right to approve it or refrain from approving it,” he continued.

Aoun stressed that the problem in the formation does not lie in the dispute over the Interior Ministry.

On the demonstrations in Syria, he said: “We should respect Syria’s security.”

“We sympathize with the demonstrators’ demands for reform” as long as the protests don’t turn violent, he noted.


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