Syrian- Turkish security talks to be held within one week

The al-Zamaan Arabic daily issued in London on Friday quoted a diplomatic source in Damascus as saying that security talks will be held between Syria and Turkey within one week.

The source explained that the Syrian minister of the Interior Muhammad Harba will visit Ankara in the mid of the current month to discuss with the Turkish officials the prospects of cooperation between the security sides in the two countries and to strengthen bilateral relations.

Observers expect that Harba's visit and the meeting between the two countries' foreign minister farouk al-Shara and Ismael Cim on the sideline of the Millennium summit in New York will furnish the way for an expected visit by the Turkish prime minister Polent Acawid to Damascus.

The observers indicated that President Bashar al-Assad will then visit Ankara at an invitation he had received from the Turkish President Ahmad Ceasar during his participation in the funeral of the late President Hafez al-Assad.