On the Syrian-Turkish security meeting

A Syrian security delegation on Monday arrived in Damascus from the Turkish city of Ghazi Eintab after it concluded three days of talks with its Turkish counterpart, during which the two sides followed up on joint work to eliminate the remaining security disputes between the two countries.

The Turkish delegation, presided over by Gen. Altai Yalman, the commander of the second contingent in the Turkish army, called for having what has been left of the archive of the Kurdistani Workers Party (PKK), which Abdullah Ocalan left behind in Damascus before he left. The Turkish side also presented the Syrian side with a list including names of the PKK's members and called for handing them over if they are in the Syrian territories.

On the other side, the chairman of the Syrian delegation, Lt. Gen. Adnan Hassan al-Bader, presented the Turkish side with names of Muslim Brotherhood group members who escaped to Turkey at the beginning of the 1980s and asked for handing them over to the Syrian authorities.

The Turkish side noted difficulties in achieving this objective on the background that some of those wanted by Syria have obtained Turkish citizenship and are now enjoying Turkish constitutional rights, which ban handing them to a foreign state.

This meeting came as the operation of border demarcation started last week between Syria and Turkey in the presence of representatives of the military area departments between the two sides. Border marks, already outdated with the passing of years, have been replaced.