The new moves of the Syrian President
The Qatari daily al-Watan said on Saturday quoting well-informed sources in Damascus that President Bashar al-Assad will resume in the coming phase his diplomatic and political move on the foreign level by visiting Kuwait and then Turkey, France and later Britain and Germany.
In a report from Damascus, the paper added that the visit of the Syrian President to Kuwait aims at making assurances to her that the Syrian closeness with Iraq is not being made at the expense of Syria's relations with Kuwait, in particular and the Gulf member states in general and that this visit constitutes an important message to the countries of the Gulf region in that Damascus is till keen to maintain the needed balance in its inter- Arab relations and that Syria is ready to revive the Damascus declaration formula.
The paper added that President al-Assad is about to pay his first visit to Turkey and the sources stressed that this visit will open new and very important horizons before the Syrian- Turkish dialogue concerning in particular the files of security and the waters.
Well-informed diplomatic sources expected the Turkish foreign minister Ismael Cim to visit damascus before the visit of President al-Assad to Turkey as part of the final preparations for the visit to be held by President al-Assad for Ankara.
The paper added that the same sources said that the problem of al-Iskandaroun Sanjak still one of the main issues that prevent a détente and full normalization in the Syrian- Turkish relations especially as Turkey is calling on Syria to recognize the current border.
The paper said that the sources also expected President al-Assad to visit France after his visit to Turkey, at the invitation of the French President Chirac, adding that both Britain and Germany are listed on the agenda of the coming visits of President al-Assad as Syria is making comprehensive negotiations with the member states of the European Union to sign a partnership agreement in the economic and commercial areas and Damascus calls on the EU to revitalize its role in the Middle East peace process.
