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DAMASCUS:
Turkey, Syria sign
free-trade accord amid warming ties on Erdogan’s
landmark visit to Damascus.
Former foes Turkey and Syria signed a free-trade
accord and said they had agreed to put their
differences behind them during a visit Wednesday by
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan, at the start of a two-day mission, and his
Syrian counterpart Mohammed Naji Otri signed the
deal, which had been under negotiation for several
years.
"Our links will develop in all fields in the future,
especially in trade," Otri said at a joint news
conference, while Erdogan said it "shows how far
relations have come between the two countries".
"We are in agreement. We want a comprehensive
cooperation in the region," said the Syrian premier,
adding that Erdogan had also agreed to increase the
flow of water into Syria.
Asked about disputes over sharing of scarce water
resources in the arid region, Otri said those
problems "are now forgotten", according to a Turkish
interpreter.
Syria has in the past accused Turkey of taking more
than its fair share of the waters of the Euphrates
River, a charge which Turkey has denied, saying that
Syria has not built enough dams to retain the water.
Asked about proposals to jointly build a dam over
the Oronte River, which flows the other way, rising
in Syria and entering the Mediterranean from Turkish
territory, Otri said:
"If the dam project serves the interests of Syrian
and Turkish citizens, then let's build it. That
would demonstrate the exemplary relations that link
the two countries.
A Turkish diplomatic source said Damascus lifted its
reservations to signing the trade deal "after a
certain accord" was reached on Turkey's sovereignty
in the southern province of Hatay, formerly
Alexandretta, on which Syria had claims.
The region was ceded to Turkey in 1939 when Syria
was under French mandate, and Ankara has maintained
that the issue of sovereignty is non-negotiable.
The free-trade accord is the cornerstone of efforts
to boost the newly found friendship between the two
former foes, which came to the brink of war only six
years ago.
Trade between the two countries amounted to one
billion dollars in 2003.
The "new era" in relations began when Syria's
President Bashar al-Assad visited Turkey in January
on the first such visit by a Syrian head of state,
Erdogan earlier told reporters at Ankara airport.
Erdogan, whose delegation includes three ministers,
among them Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen,
also met Assad and is to visit the northern city of
Aleppo today before flying back home.
Turkey, a close ally of the United States and
Israel, has pushed for closer relations with Syria
since the US-led invasion of Iraq, despite warnings
from Washington to limit its cooperation with
Damascus.
Ankara and Damascus share concerns over the Iraqi
Kurds' aspirations for self-rule in a future
federated Iraq as they both have sizeable Kurdish
communities of their own.
In 1998, the two countries nearly went to war over
Ankara's accusations that Damascus was sheltering
separatist Kurdish militants fighting the Turkish
government.
Tensions eased when Damascus expelled Kurdish rebel
leader Abdullah Ocalan from his safe haven in Syria
and signed a security deal with Ankara, pledging to
stop supporting Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
As a result, Turkish intelligence operatives
arrested Ocalan in Kenya, where he had fled. He was
brought back to Turkey for trial and is serving a
life sentence for treason.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, war-torn Iraq and
the Kurdish question also figured in the
Otri-Erdogan talks, officials said.
Turkey and Syria have since the March 2003 invasion
of neighbouring Iraq signed a series of economic and
security agreements, including one to jointly combat
crime and terrorism.
Last year, Syria detained and extradited to Turkey
20 people wanted in connection with suicide-bombings
that targeted synagogues and British interests in
Istanbul.
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