A new phase in Syria - Turkey relations

The Turkish daily Mellit said on Friday that a new stage will start in Syria after Lt. Gen. Bashar al-Assad will take the constitutional oath on Monday to assume the post of the President of the Republic officially.

The paper quoted the experts Ramadan Kalash from Belkint university in Turkey as saying that Bashar al-Assad has used the visit made by the Turkish President Ahmad Necdet Cezar to Damascus to take part in the funeral of the late President Hafez al-Assad in expressing his warm feeling towards Turkey.

He added that it is expected that Damascus will take tangible steps to improve Turkish- Syrian relations, noting that the Syrian diplomats say that Bashar al-Assad wants to visit Turkey in case Ankara has extended an invitation to him to visit Turkey.

The paper indicated that it is also possible that both Syria and Turkey will take steps towards issues relating to the waters especially after what was recently published by the Turkish daily "daily news " recently on Turkey's readiness to reconsider its three-stage plan earlier refused by Damascus as well as to revitalize the joint committee provides for dealing with these disputes.

The paper concluded as saying that the change that took place in Damascus would lead to improvement in Turkish- Syrian relations.