Al-Assad receives a message from Khatami on Turkish tensions

President Hafez al-Assad on Thursday at Damascus al-Chaab palace received Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, who conveyed to President al-Assad a message from Iranian President Muhammad Khatami on current Turkish-Syrian relations and the Iranian efforts to contain the rising tensions.

Talks dealt with the current conditions between Syria and Turkey and the efforts exerted by President Khatami, who is currently the head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), to contain the escalation and deal with disputes between the two countries through dialogue.

Members of Kharazi's accompanying delegation, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa', the Syrian ambassador in Tehran and the Iranian ambassador in Damascus were also present at the meeting.

Earlier in the day, al-Sharaa discussed with Kharazi the "provocative and hostile positions adopted by Turkey against Syria and the role of the OIC presidency in dealing with this crisis that erupted between the two countries."

In an earlier arrival statement upon his arrival, Kharazi told SANA's correspondent at the Damascus airport, "I am delegated to Syria by the Iranian President Muhammad Khatami, in his capacity as chairman of the OIC. After Syria I will head to Turkey, and we will find out through these two visits what we can do towards solving the crisis between Turkey and Syria."

He added,"Such problems frequently erupt between states. But we are confident that such disputes between two Muslim countries as Syria and Turkey will be sorted out peacefully." He hoped that preparatory mediation would help settle this problem by peaceful means and constructive dialogue between Syria and Turkey.

For his part, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa expressed that Kharazi's visit to Damascus will be a success. He added: "The Syrian position regarding the Turkish threats was expressed in a statement by the Syrian official source in which it asserted Syria's care to solve all suspending problems between Syria and Turkey by diplomatic means and through dialogue. And this is what we are doing now."

Al-Sharaa added that Syria has said that raising the "old problem" (in reference to Alexandaritta Sanjak) in the meantime, is a matter which "we did not understand as well as the Turkish official unfamiliar provocative statements. We do not want our neighbor Turkey to blame its neighbors abroad for its internal problems."