Bringing Syria back to its traditionally tolerant society from the current stage with different factions turned against each other will take time, former British envoy to Syria Henry Hogger says.
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00:00Just lastly, I mean we're talking here about Syria, a country you know well, you served there almost 25 years ago as ambassador.
00:07It's a country that's been scarred by decades of torture, there's been disappearances, summary executions, 70% of the population now living in need of aid.
00:18How long do you think it's going to take for a country with that amount of baggage to heal and reconstruct?
00:26Well I think it's going to take a long time, I wouldn't like to put a timescale on it, but as you say, those scars run very deep.
00:33I was very lucky to be posted in Syria 20 years ago when there wasn't conflict, when it was in fact a wonderful country to explore
00:47because of the generosity and hospitable nature of the ordinary people.
00:52I don't think that's changed very much, but of course what has happened is that different factions have been set against each other.
01:00This is against the background, historically in fact, of a very tolerant society that grew up with coexistence among Jews, Christians, Muslims of different sects and so on.
01:13But one would love to see things going back gradually to that state of affairs.
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