Ghoule starts in Syria an Arab tour; Turkish trade delegation to Iraq
Regional-Turkey, Politics, 1/3/2003

The Turkish prime minister Abdullah Ghoule will head for Damascus tomorrow marking the beginning of an Arab tour which is his first since he assumed the Presidency of the Turkish government two months ago. The tour will also cover Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Official sources in Ankara said that Ghoule will be meeting during his short visit to Damascus with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the prime minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro.

Meantime, the Egyptian ministry of information said that President Mubarak will hold on Sunday at Sharm Esh Sheikh resort talks with Ghoule on the Iraqi crisis and bilateral relations between Turkey and the Arab states.

On Monday, the Turkish prime minister will head for Jordan and on Tuesday for Saudi Arabia, according to a governmental source, at a time when the Turkish minister of state for Trade Korsad Touzman will lead a 150 businessmen delegation in a two day visit to Baghdad on January 10th to discuss trade issued in a measure which is considered as an evidence on the strong Turkish opposition to any war against Iraq.

The Turkish minister will convey a message from the Turkish prime minister Abdullah Ghoule to the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, urging him to abide by UN resolution, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet in its yesterday's issue.

The American ambassador in Ankara, Robert Person, said yesterday that Washington "welcomes this visit," noting "we support every initiative that leads to solving the issue peacefully." Officials at the Turkish ministry said yesterday that officials at the two ministries of energy and foreign affairs will accompany Touzman in his visit to Iraq.

However, every nine out of ten persons in Turkey, representing 87% who were asked about their opinion, oppose the war against Iraq, according to an opinion poll published yesterday by the Turkish English language daily Turkish daily News.

Previous Stories:
  Rally in support of Iraq sweep into istanbul streets   (1/2/2003)
  Daily News: Ankara, Washington and the Kurds establish joint committee   (1/1/2003)
  Milliyet: Ghoule to visit Syria. Saudi Arabia and Egypt   (12/21/2002)
  Arab-Turkish relations to further develop under AK government   (12/3/2002)
  Ardojan promises to develop relations with the Arab states, upon receiving Arab diplomats   (11/23/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search