Baerbock and Syria: Handbeat in history and diplomacy!

Baerbock and Syria: Handbeat in history and diplomacy!

At the center of political attention is the recent visit to the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Saudi Arabia, where she now completed a significant handshake with her Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shaybani. At a meeting as part of a Syria conference in Riyadh, the gesture was seen as a sign of a possibly better diplomatic climate, especially after the scandal on her previous visit to Damascus when the de-facto-actor Ahmed al-Schaharaa refused to have a handshake. This dismissal caused a sensation, since al-Schaharaa had willingly stretched his hand from the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, which the social tensions can be illustrated in such encounters as krone.at reported.

The handshake that Baerbock and Al-Shaybani have now exchanged symbolically stands for the hope that the diplomatic relationships between Germany and Syria could improve step by step. During her Damascus visit, Baerbock was informed about the cultural differences and the explosive of gender roles in Islamic societies. She made it clear that she disapproved the absence of a handshake and made it clear that this practice did not correspond to the standards of international diplomacy. At the sidelines of the conference it was also observed that the protection of women's rights in Syria under the new transitional government, which emerged from the Islamist group HTS, is exactly the focus, as Rnd reported.

The political importance of this meeting is undisputed, since not only bilateral, but also internationally, it is observed how the rules for gender relationships will develop under the new regime. These developments could be crucial for how the international community interacts with Syria and whether reformist approaches can gain a foothold in Syrian society.