 |
Davutoğlu: Plan under way for strategic cooperation with Syria
Davutoğlu, who accompanied Erdoğan on an official one-day visit to Syria on Wednesday, left İstanbul late on Wednesday for an official visit to Belgrade, Serbia.
Ankara has been planning to establish a joint mechanism with Damascus that is to be similar to the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council established between Ankara and Baghdad, Davutoğlu said in response to a question on Wednesday evening. A joint meeting of the Turkish and Iraqi cabinets is slated for autumn in Baghdad as part of that cooperation mechanism. The coordination necessary to create a similar mechanism with Syria will be conducted by Davutoğlu and his Syrian counterpart in the coming days, and Davutoğlu says they will work for quick implementation of the mechanism.
Earlier this week, Davutoğlu said Turkey wished also to improve the cooperation between Turkey and Iraq, which is supported by various mechanisms, to offer a model for other countries in the region.
Meanwhile, Davutoğlu said a number of issues related to the Middle East, including prospects of a restarting of indirect talks between Israel and Syria, were discussed during Erdoğan's meeting with Assad in Aleppo on Wednesday, adding that Turkey's contacts on the issue would continue.
In Aleppo, Erdoğan said Turkey was prepared to resume mediating in the Arab-Israeli conflict, while he pressed Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria. The prime minister also strongly reprimanded Palestinians over the division between the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and the Hamas militants who run the Gaza Strip.
“[Palestinian] brothers are living apart from each other... What kind of brotherhood is that?” he asked.
Erdoğan helped mediate last year in four rounds of indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, but Syria suspended them in December over Israel's military offensive in Gaza.
“Unfortunately, with the Gaza incidents, this process was obstructed. Our wish would be that this not be obstructed, and this negativity be removed by returning Syria's rights,” Erdoğan said after meeting with Assad.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BERİL DEDEOĞLU |  |
||
| Yemen and beyond | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ |  |
||
| Google kidnaps Gül! | |||
| İHSAN YILMAZ |  |
||
| The Egyptian elections, Islam and Islamists | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| There is need for a new initiative | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Operational errors | |||
| HASAN KANBOLAT |  |
||
| Are Russian tourists being discouraged from visiting Turkey? | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| The modern ‘Great Game’: women’s role and status | |||
| KLAUS JURGENS |  |
||
| Back to the ’80s | |||
| KATHY HAMILTON |  |
||
| Random acts of violence | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| Adding insult to injury in Uludere | |||
| NICOLE POPE |  |
||
| Shifting responsibility | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| ‘Errorism’ | |||
| ORHAN MİROĞLU |  |
||
| ‘Strategic vision’ | |||
| ORHAN KEMAL CENGİZ |  |
||
| Turkey through Amnesty International’s eyes | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
