Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
has told a German newspaper in an interview.
"If I decided to leave office under these circumstances, it would be national betrayal. But it's another question if that's what the people want," he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
"Elections or a referendum are the way to know if the people want you to quit your post," said Assad.
His remarks were published in full on state news agency SANA a day after the German daily published extracts from the interview.
Assad's departure has been a key demand since the early days of the uprising that began in March 2011 with peaceful demonstrations, before devolving into a brutal armed conflict.
The violence has killed more than 93,000 people, according to the United Nations
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, but Assad has repeatedly insisted he will not step down and will be in office at least until the 2014 presidential election.
"The presidential mandate finishes in 2014. (We're) in a time of crisis... and it is normal not to leave the country," Assad said.