Al-Shara - Gul's press conference on Iraq, developments
Syria-Turkey, Politics, 4/30/2003

Syria's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister, Farouk al-Shara, and his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, held in Damascus yesterday a joint press conference.

Al-Shara expressed said the meeting between President Bashar al-Assad and Gul dealt with the Iraqi and Palestinian causes and bilateral relations between the two countries.

Concerning Syria's stance towards the current events in Iraq, al Shara stressed Syria's firm and principled stance before and after the war, asserting Iraqi territorial integrity, and safety as well as exercising the right of choosing the Iraqi government without any external interference.

He also indicated that the American and British forces have to bear the responsibility of preserve peace and stability in Iraq in line with the international law as an occupation power.

Concerning the misunderstanding between the American administration and Syria during the war, al-Shara said that this misunderstanding was due to the American belief that Syria is interfering with the Iraqi affairs after the war, but in fact Syria is not, and even the Iraqi people don't accept any external interference and they are able to exercise self determination.

The American administration doesn't realize the depth of the historical relations between the two peoples that no system can eliminate, al-Shara added.

About the Road Map, al-Shara stressed that this map is unclear, asserting that President Assad's talks with Spanish Foreign Minister, Palacio about the Road Map was based on Syria's support for the Palestinians' right of self determination and restoring their occupied lands.

For his part, Gul expressed appreciation over his meeting with President al-Assad stressing that his visit aims at developing the standing bilateral relations between the two neighbor countries and developing friendly relations in all domains specially in trade and investment asserting that Syria is Turkey's gate to the Arab states.

He also added that they discussed the peace process in the region which will lead to enhanced peace and stability.

Concerning Turkey's stance towards the forthcoming Iraqi government, Gul said that Turkey prefers the election of civilian government that includes all Iraqi people factions and works in line with a democratic mechanism that preserves security in Iraq.

Previous Stories:
  Gul to visit Syria next week   (4/25/2003)
  Joumureyat: Gul to visit Syria   (4/24/2003)
  Gul: Turkey for good relations with Syria   (4/21/2003)

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