Syria ready to open dialogue with Turkey without preconditions

The London-based al-Hayat daily has said that in his message conveyed by Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa to President Mubarak, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad expressed Syria's readiness to open a dialogue with Turkey but without preconditions.

President al-Assad called each party to propose its position during such a dialogue. The paper quoted an Egyptian source that Syria's answer to the Egyptian proposals to end the crisis as positive as it paves the way to containing tension and settling the crisis. The Egyptian source added that al-Sharaa conveyed to President Mubarak a file including Syria's fears in reply to the file delivered by the Turkish President Suleiman Demirel to Mubarak. The source went on that Mubarak asked Foreign Minister al-Sharaa to convey a message to President al-Assad in which the former asserted the importance on not boosting media escalation between Syria and Jordan as well as to calm down the atmosphere between the "two sisterly countries."

Mubarak also warned against media war between Syria and Jordan as falling in the interest of other sides. Mubarak told Syria that according to Egyptian Jordanian contacts, Jordan will not be a side in a war against Syria and will not join any alliance that will be harmful to Syria and its position.

Al-Hayat quoted sources in Damascus which it described as well- informed that the Syrian position conveyed by al-Sharaa to Mubarak on Saturday includes ideas pertaining to resuming meetings of bilateral committees in the political, water and security area, and alleviating the pace of the Turkish- Israeli military relations, settling bilateral problems without intervention from a third party with adherence to exchanged security and good neighborly relations.