Syria wants to settle other disputes with Turkey

The Turkish daily J'oumhoryat reported on Monday that after Damascus signed an agreement with Syria to terminate support for terrorism, "it is now persisting to settle other disputes with Turkey through dialogue and diplomacy."

Under the title "Olive branch from Syria," the paper added that following a meeting held by political parties in Syria, a high-ranking Syrian official has called for resorting to dialogue as means to settle pending issues with Turkey but without listing the problems arising between the two countries.

The paper continued that following this meeting, President Hafez al-Assad headed for Egypt where he held talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Syrian - Turkish relations and the Middle East peace process. The paper added that initiatives taken by Turkey with the Syrian and Russian authorities concerning the Kurdistani Workers Party (PKK) and its leader Abdullah Oclan have started to yield fruits.

The paper reported that a "telephone hotline" was established between Damascus and Ankara for cooperation in fighting terrorism. Two other Turkish officials were dispatched to Damascus to join the others dispatched earlier for the same objective.

The paper said that following all these developments Turkey has suspended the military maneuvers scheduled for the borders with Syria. The paper indicated that the Turkish foreign minister conveyed a message to Turkish Prime Minister Mesout Yilmaz from his Russian counterpart Yevgeny Primakov in which Russia pledges it will not shelter Oclan. "This is what Turkey would have expected from Russia."