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Syria’s Assad says West moving away from Turkey

BERLIN (Reuters) – Turkey is playing an increasingly important role for regional stability as Western powers distance themselves from the emerging nation, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a newspaper on Tuesday.

Asked if he felt Turkey was moving away from the West, NATO and the United States in favour of Muslim countries, Assad told Germany’s mass-selling Bild daily that he felt the responsibility lay elsewhere.

“I’d say rather that the West is moving away from Turkey,” he said in an interview.

Western powers are somewhat concerned that Turkey is growing closer to fellow Muslim neighbours like Iran and Syria, although Ankara sees its role as a stabilising force in the region.

The country’s ruling AK party has its roots in Islam but sees itself as akin to Europe’s conservative Christian Democrats — liberal on economic policies but conservative on social issues. It won re-election in 2007 with the greatest margin of votes in four decades.

Turkey has since boosted its ties and trade with Arab countries, lifting visa restrictions for citizens of several nations including Syria. Ankara aims to create a free trade zone without visa restrictions with Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

“I believe the role that Turkey has been playing in the region for the past three years is important,” Assad said. “It has brought a certain balance to this turbulent region.”

Turning to Turkey’s stalled bid to join the European Union, Assad said the bloc should match its ideals of openness and cultural dialogue by admitting the country.

“You must ask Turkey straightforwardly to join the EU, because an Islamic country is needed so the EU does not become a Christians-only club,” he said.

Turkey, which straddles Asia and Europe, started formal membership negotiations with the EU in 2005, but doubts in some capitals about admitting a Muslim country of 74 million people have held Europe back from welcoming it.

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul, who has said he is frustrated by barriers to EU membership, told Reuters in an interview that Ankara was now building closer ties with Russia and Central Asian states where Turkish business is flourishing.

(Writing by Brian Rohan)

© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved

via Syria’s Assad says West moving away from Turkey | World | Reuters.

December 22, 2010
Works underway for formation of Turkey-Syria-Jordan-Lebanon Council

Davutoglu said, they discussed the 2nd High-Level Strategic Cooperation meeting to be held on December 21.

Friday, 10 December 2010 10:15

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday that they were working on establishment of Turkey-Syria-Jordan-Lebanon Strategic Cooperation Council mechanism.

Davutoglu and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem held a press conference in Ankara.

Davutoglu said that Turkish-Syrian relations were improving and the two countries had a full cooperation, stating that they discussed the 2nd High-Level Strategic Cooperation meeting to be held on December 21. Recalling that 51 agreements were signed between Turkey and Syria last year, Davutoglu said that the 2nd meeting would focus on these agreements and projects.

“We believe this relationship is the one which will change fate of the region,” he said.

Davutoglu said that they also discussed Lebanon and Iraq in their meeting. “Iraq’s stability is of great importance for Turkey and Syria,” he said.

Turkey and Syria shared similar perspectives in regard to regional issues, he said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Mualem said that they were pleased with Turkey’s role in the region.

Mualem said that Syria hoped that its strategic cooperation with Turkey would be improved.

Syria was determined to exert more efforts for settlement of stability in Lebanon, Mualem said.

In regard to Israel’s new settlement construction, Mualem said that Syria would keep assisting Palestine.

AA

December 13, 2010
Turkish and Syrian Citizens

(DP-News-Sana)

Hasaka, Lattakia, Edlib and Aleppo Governorates- The Turkish families on Thursday started visiting their relatives in Syria through the border crossing points of al-Salama and Jarabulus in the northern province of Aleppo.

Deputy Chairman of Aleppo Municipality’s Executive Bureau Abdul-Kader Jazmati underlined that the Syrian-Turkish relations acquire special importance through the joint ties between the two friendly peoples.

He added that the family meetings express the deep and strong relations connecting the two countries.

Deputy Governor of the Turkish province of Kilis Eren Arslan said the mutual visits contribute to boosting and deepening relations between the two peoples, hailing progress and development of the Turkish-Syrian ties.

Head of the border section in Aleppo Ali al-Sheikh said that nearly 12000 visitors of the Turkish families will visit their relatives in Syria, among them 7000 visitors through Bab al-Salama border point while 5000 visitors through Jarabulus.

About 4164 Turkish Citizens are expected to enter from the Syrian-Turkish border point of ‘Ras Al-In’-‘ ceylanpinor’ to celebrate Eid Al-Adha with their relatives in Syria, according to Brigadier Zaki Bistti, the Director of Ras Al-In’ region, about 600 kilometers from Damascus.

Bistti, in a statement, referred to the measures taken by Hasaka Governorate and the Turkish Urfa Council as to facilitate the movement of the Turkish Citizens visiting their relatives in Hasaka Governorate. Mr. Ilker Ozerk Ozcan, the Governor of Ceylanpinor, referred to the annual increase in the number of visitors who pay a 48 visit to Syria during Eid periods.

About 936 Syrian Citizens from Hasaka Governorate paid a visit during the last Eid Al-Fitr to their relatives in Turkey across the Syrian-Turkish border point of ‘Ras Al-In’-‘ ceylanpinor’. ‘Bab Al-Hawa’ Crossing Point at Edlib Governoerate, 330 kilometers from Damascus, witnessed the crossing of thousands of Turkish Citizens as to celebrate eid Al-Adha, with their relatives in Syria.

Latakia’s ‘Kasab’ Crossing Point, 348 kilometers from Damascus, also registered a crowded movement across the Syrian-Turkish borders as for the families to spend the joyful Eid Al-Adha feasts together. Engineer Khalid Al-Ahmad, the Governor of Edlib, cited the importance of such visits declaring that 86 projects are being carried out on the Syria-Turkish borders.

Antioch Governor, Mehmet Celaleffin Lekesiz, asserted that such exchanged visits among the relatives on both sides of the borders would open wide prospects for tourist, economic, and trade cooperation relations between Syria and turkey. Lekesiz referred to the positive effect of cancelling visa-entry, Which increased the number of visitors from a million and 126 thousand during the first 10 months of last year to 2 million and 260 thousand visitors.

The Turkish families expressed happiness over visiting Syria and exchanging congratulations with their relatives.

Syrian citizens of al-Hasaka today entered Turkey through al-Qamishli-Nussibyn border point to exchange congratulations of Eid al-Adha with their relatives in Turkey.

, 19/11/2010

November 20, 2010
Muallem says Turkey-Syria relations example to others in region

Muallem said relations between Turkey and Syria were example to other countries of the region.

Sunday, 14 November 2010 15:37

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem said on Sunday that relations between Turkey and Syria were strategical.

Speaking at a meeting with a delegation of Syrians who function as voluntary envoys of Syria abroad, Muallem said Syria’s relations with Turkey was strategical in every area. “As talks are underway on politics, relations in economy also progress,” he said.

Muallem said relations between Turkey and Syria were example to other countries of the region.

AA

November 15, 2010
Israel-Syria talks ‘were a phone call away’: Turkish FM

DUBAI (Al Arabiya)

Israel and Syria were close enough to reach a breakthrough in their relation after Turkey supported talks between the two countries in Istanbul in 2008, but the talks came to a complete halt after Israel attacked the Gaza strip in the same period, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Israel captured the Golan Heightsin the 1967 war

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister who was a key adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, in 2008, told visiting delegations of European politicians in Istanbul that the three countries were close to finalize a breakthrough talks, but efforts fizzled into thin air as Israel attacked the Gaza Strip in December 2008, the UAE-based The National reported.

According to Davutoglu, the indirect talks between the Israelis and Syrians about the future of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, proceeded well in 2008.

The phone call was to take place at 11 o’clock

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister

Davutoglu said that he was at the time was residing in a hotel to shuttle between two hotels where the Syrian and Israeli delegations resided.

“We wanted to have the fifth round in the same hotel, and the sixth one on the same corridor,” he said.

The three countries were planning to have a joint meeting in Istanbul on December 29, 2008, he added.

“Only one word” was needed for a joint statement, he said. Two days before the planned meeting, a phone call was to occur between Olmert and Erdogan to finalize the last details.

“The phone call was to take place at 11 o’clock” on December 27, he said. “At 10.30, Israel attacked Gaza. They killed 148 people in one hour.”

Erdogan expressed his disappointment of Olmert, who had not mentioned the planned attack on Gaza during the visit.

In January 2009, Erdogan angrily stormed out of a panel debate with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

The Turkish-Israeli relations were further severed after Israeli soldiers killed nine Turkish activists on the aid-flotilla ship, Mavi Marmara, bound to Gaza in late May, 2010.

In October, the political and military leadership in Ankara passed a revision of the so-called National Security Policy Document, also known as the Red Book, covering Turkey’s main policy guideline of domestic and foreign threats, and referred to the regional “instability” created by Israel.

Davutoglu made it clear that his country was not ready to let the flotilla issue rest.

“What if nine NGO members had been killed by Iran?” he asked. “There must be justice in international relations. No one attacks Turkish citizens.”

November 14, 2010
George W Bush memoirs: foreign powers and Tony Blair

George W Bush, the former US president, has launched his memoirs and given a series of interviews, which provide fascinating insights into his views on foreign powers, among them Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister.

By Andy Bloxham

On Tony Blair:

He compared Mr Blair to Winston Churchill and disclosed that, on the eve of the war in Iraq, the British PM was willing to risk bringing down the Government to push through a vital vote. He cites Mr Blair’s “wisdom and his strategic thinking as the prime minister of a strong and important ally”, adding: “I admire that kind of courage. People get caught up in all the conventional wisdom, but some day history will reward that kind of political courage.”

On British and European public opinion:

The former president was frank about the lack of weight he attached to how he was thought of in the UK both while he was in power and since he left it, saying: “It doesn’t matter how people perceive me in England. It just doesn’t matter any more. And frankly, at times, it didn’t matter then.” He said: “People in Europe said: “Ah, man, he’s a religious fanatic, cowboy, simpleton.” All that stuff… If you believe that freedom is universal, then you shouldn’t be surprised when people take courageous measures to live in a free society.”

On Saddam:

“There were things we got wrong in Iraq but that cause is eternally right,” he said. “People forget he was an enemy, he had invaded countries, everybody thought he had weapons of mass destruction, it became clear that he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. What would life be like if Saddam Hussein were [still] in power? It is likely you would be seeing a nuclear arms race.” He also adds that Saddam disclosed his reasons for pretending to have WMDs when he could have avoided war were because “he was more worried about looking weak to Iran than being removed by the coalition.”

On Afghanistan:

“Our government was not prepared for nation building. Over time, we adapted our stratedy and our capabilities. Still, the poverty in Afghanistan is so deep, and the infrastructure so lacking, that it will take many years to complete the work.”

On Iran:

“A government not of the people is never capable of being held to account for human rights violations. Iran will be better served if there is an Iranian-style democracy. They play like they’ve got elections but they’ve got a handful of clerics who decide who runs it.”

On China:

He believes its internal politics will stop it being a superpower economy to rival the US for many years. “China, no question, is an emerging economy. China has plenty of internal problems which means that, in my judgment, they are not hegemonistic. They will be seeking raw materials.”

On Syria:

Mr Bush recounts an incident when Israel’s then-prime minister Ehud Olmert called him to ask him to bomb what Mossad agents had discovered was a secret nuclear facility in Syria. He said no but Israel destroyed it without warning him. Telling the story appears to signal his displeasure at not being told.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8119227/George-W-Bush-memoirs-foreign-powers-and-Tony-Blair.html, 09 Nov 2010

November 13, 2010