Arafat supports Turkish initiative to improve relations with Arab neighbors
Regional-Turkey, Politics, 3/7/1998

In a statement to the Turkish Daily News on Friday, Palestinian representative in Ankara Fouad Yassin urged Egypt, Israel and Palestine to join the new Turkish initiative to improve relations with its Arab neighbors.

The paper quoted a senior official at the Turkish Foreign Ministry as saying that the cause for the new Turkish initiative is Turkey's worries over the future of Iraq.

In a similar statement to the paper, the Jordanian foreign minister stressed the importance of cooperation between Turkey, Jordan and Egypt to convince the US to exert pressure on Israel, but the Turkish official expressed doubts over the success of an initiative.

Turkey has expressed concern over possible action by the US to undermine the territorial integrity of Iraq, and splitting the country into three regions. Turkey's worries stem from concern over the possible creation of a Kurdish state in the Northern border of Iraq and in the south of Turkey where most Kurds reside.

Previous Stories:
  New Turkish foreign ministry team to improve relations with Arab states   (3/6/1998)
  Direct Dialogue between Iraq and the USA is needed, Jordan's King says   (3/5/1998)
  Cem, Anani conclude talks, affirm call for direct US-Iraq talks   (2/28/1998)

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