Four months ago exactly, Domenico Quirico, who had entered Syria from the Lebanese border to report on the most advanced front of the civil war, disappeared. For eight weeks we had no news of our correspondent, who was last seen in the Homs district, one of the worst in the Syrian conflict. That agonising silence was broken on 6 June, with a phone call from Domenico to his wife Giulietta telling her, and us, that he\u2019d been kidnapped.<\/P>
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Since then, our hope each day has been \u201cThis is it. This is the day we\u2019ll see him again\u201d. But fate has taken an arduous and complicated route: the contacts we thought were leading to a positive outcome were broken off and we were plunged once again into silent waiting. <\/P>
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Here at \u201cLa Stampa\u201d we, like his family, have staked our hopes and trust in the work being done by our authorities, coordinated by the Foreign Ministry\u2019s Crisis unit. And we have agreed to adopt a line of press silence and maintain the utmost reserve on the case because that seemed the best course of action to obtain results. But now contacts have been resumed. And as Foreign Minister Emma Bonino tells us, the mood is one of \u201ccautious optimism\u201d \u2013 a view echoed by Giampiero Massolo, Director of the Security Intelligence Department. The intention behind this interview is to send out a signal and provide an up-date after this long period of silence. And to let friends and colleagues know that the effort to help Domenico has not faltered, not even for a day.<\/P>
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Four months have gone by since Quirico was kidnapped. What\u2019s your view, from the Farnesina, of the situation?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cWe\u2019re at a very delicate stage, and I\u2019m not using a clich\u00e9 here, because everyone clearly realises that everything is happening not just in highly complex conditions but also in a region where the people controlling the terrain are changing continually. Ramadan has just ended, and certain situations \u2013 which could also influence Quirico\u2019s own situation \u2013 are seeing some movement\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> Minister Bonino, can you explain the situation on the ground, and what \u201cmovement\u201d means in this context?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cTo the complexity of the situation \u2013 that of war \u2013 we need, in these cases, to add the fact that the alliances are highly fluid, especially those on the anti-Assad side, which is extremely varied and mobile. And then new situations have emerged, like the opening of very bloody clashes between Kurdish and Islamist rebels. Things are also moving in the region where we think Domenico Quirico is being held, the region that\u2019s the sphere of action of the group we think is holding him\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> But is all this just speculation or has progress been made?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cCertain channels that had closed have now opened again; they\u2019re both real and extremely active. At present the activity is feverish \u2013 I can\u2019t think of a more appropriate word to describe it \u2013 and it could lead to promising results\u201d <\/STRONG><\/P> Is that why both you at the Farnesina and Massolo, speaking for the intelligence services at his hearing before the [parliamentary] committee, are talking of \u201ccautious optimism\u201d?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cYes, we\u2019re hopeful that this activity will produce positive results. But be careful: this is a crucial time and we cannot commit communication errors that could undermine that positive outcome\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> You are still very cautious and continue to invite all the media to maintain their silence and reserve.<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cThat\u2019s because we don\u2019t think that talking too much brings any results. This is a time for silent, cautious work and for keeping below the radar. That holds for both Quirico and for Father Dall\u2019Oglio. So I think it\u2019s useless to fuss and shout, and anyway, who would I be yelling at?\u201d<\/P> What information do we have on events in the region?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cThe very large area where we think Quirico is located is one of constant armed fighting in a highly unstable scenario as regards control of the terrain. The Dall\u2019Oglio case is further evidence of this: its characteristics are different but it confirms the danger of the situation, even for someone with good contacts among the groups operating in the region. Groups that Father Dall\u2019Oglio knew very well\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> But in this scenario of instability and flux, is there any solid ground we can rely on?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cOne point to note is that the position of the current leader of the anti-Assad coalition has been strengthened. His name is Jabra and he was elected recently at the Istanbul meeting, after weeks of talks\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> Which region and influence is he close to?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cHe enjoys support from Saudi Arabia, unlike his predecessor, Sabra, who represented positions closer to Qatar and Turkey, which were the two countries supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Tunisia. And this leads us, of course, to extend the discussion to instability in the wider region. We\u2019re witnessing a clash within the Sunni family, which at present sees the Saudis prevailing and which, along with other reasons, for example local economic and social discontent, led to the fall of Morsi. We must hope that Tunisia holds up\u201d. <\/P> You met the Russian foreign minister. Did you discuss Syria and the cases of the kidnapped Italian nationals?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cNaturally. We shared information, and as regards the future scenario we both feel that there can be no military solution, just a laborious effort to bring people to the table at Geneva 2\u201d. <\/P> <\/STRONG><\/P> In mid-July you met Giulietta Quirico and her daughter Metella and reassured them of your efforts on their behalf. Is there anything you can add today?<\/STRONG><\/P> \u201cFirst of all, I\u2019d like to express to Domenico\u2019s family, to his wife and daughter, my own and the Farnesina\u2019s very active solidarity. And I\u2019d like to remind them that we\u2019re working day by day \u2013 patiently, stubbornly, and with a good dose of healthy realism. And that\u2019s why we can cultivate hope\u201d. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four months ago exactly, Domenico Quirico, who had entered Syria from the Lebanese border to report on the most advanced front of the civil war, disappeared. For eight weeks we had no news of our correspondent, who was last seen in the Homs district, one of the worst in the Syrian conflict. That agonising silence […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[6,76],"class_list":["post-24166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviste","tag-mediterraneo-e-medio-oriente","tag-ministri-precedenti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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