Turkey and the Arab states

The Turkish weekly Edenlik said in its recent issue under the title "Cim attempt to damage the Turkish- Arab cooperation" that Ankara was preparing by the mid of last April to receive a high ranking Syrian military delegation in a visit which constitutes a turning point in the Syrian- Turkish relations and of a special importance in the Turkish foreign policy.

The Turkish magazine added "But the Turkish foreign ministry team obstructed this visit. A matter which is considered a blow to the security cooperation with Syria." The magazine added that the initiative of the Turkish foreign minister to visit the Middle East together with his Greek peer George Papadreau, a visit which attained no results, aimed at giving a western cover for this initiative which was based from the very beginning on dragging Turkey towards the West concerning the Middle East issue and therefore alienating Turkey from its neighbors and apart from the Arab states.

The magazine indicated that the initiative of the Turkish foreign minister had placed Turkey in confrontation of the Arab states and sided it with the West, noting that Cim also continued his "damaging acts" through the said initiative by obstructing the joint Turkish, Russian, and Egyptian initiative which was planning to interfere for finding an outlet for the Palestinian- Israeli crisis.