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DAMASCUS, April 13 (AFP) - 18h05 - Presidents
Ahmet Necdet Sezer of Turkey and Syria's Bashar al-Assad
on Wednesday agreed to boost links between their
countries despite US pressure for Ankara to keep its
distance from Damascus.
Turkey and Syria will "develop cooperation and
bilateral relations in all economic and commercial
domains", Sezer said after meeting Assad in
Damascus.
However, the political crisis in their regional
neighbour Lebanon since the assassination of that
country's former premier Rafiq Hariri in
mid-February also dominated the talks.
Damascus and Ankara are "profoundly attached" to
stability and unity in Lebanon, Assad said in a
statement. Sezer expressed "satisfaction" with the
ongoing Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon.
The two-day visit, a first to Syria for the Turkish
leader, follows a visit by Assad to Turkey last
year.
The two presidents also discussed the situation in
Iraq and the Middle East conflict, they said, issues
on which they have shared points of view.
Assad hailed "Turkey's constructive role in favour
of a just and far-reaching peace in the region".
The leaders held one-on-one talks before being
joined by Syrian Prime Minister Naji Otri and their
delegations.
Government newspaper Tishrin earlier praised Sezer
for his "courageous, bold and wise" trip in the face
of the "crude pressure exercised by the United
States and its flagrant interference in the affairs
of a great regional country."
The United States had asked Turkey to side with its
Western allies over calls for Syria to withdraw from
Lebanon following the assassination of former
Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri in February.
"What can be said on Syria is that the international
community is completely unanimous" on a Syrian
withdrawal, US ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman,
said last month. "We hope Turkey will join the
international community."
Turkey supports the withdrawal, but also says it
wants to contribute to developing good neighbourly
ties in the conflict-torn Middle East.
Edelman's call, which came at a cool period in
Turkish-US relations due to differences over Iraq,
was largely interpreted as a warning for Sezer to
drop plans to visit Damascus, which Washington
accuses of supporting terrorism.
The Syrian leader had previously hinted that he
would discuss with Sezer the role of the United
States and European countries in the region, in
developments which he said recalled "the colonial
era."
"We can reduce the dangers to a minimum only if we
act together. The dangers are threatening all of us.
They started with Iraq, now they are threatening
Syria and other countries ... They are trying to
interfere in Turkey's affairs," he told CNN-Turk.
Otri said on Tuesday that he welcomed the "important
visit ... and its impact on consolidation of ties
and cooperation between the two neighbourly and
friendly countries."
Turkey and Syria have greatly improved their stormy
ties since 1998, when they came to the brink of 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 and signed a security deal
with Ankara, pledging to stop supporting Ocalan's
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The high point in the improved relationship was an
Ankara visit of Assad in January 2004, the first to
Turkey by a Syrian head of state.
Turkey has made increasing overtures to Syria since
the US-led invasion of Iraq, both neighbors sharing
concerns that post-war Iraq may break up and spark
new turmoil in the region.
Both Syria and Turkey, which have sizeable Kurdish
minorities of their own, oppose moves toward greater
autonomy for the Kurds of Iraq.
Despite the improved ties, two sticking points
remain: the waters of the Euphrates, which has its
source in Turkey, and the status of Turkey's
southern Hatay province, formerly Alexandretta,
which Syria still claims.
AFP
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