US asks Turkey to settle water issue with Syria

Diplomatic sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the US has asked Turkey to join serious negotiations with Syria in order to reach a final statement on sharing the waters of the Euphrates to encourage Damascus to have flexibility in its negotiating position with Israel, of which the issue of water is considered one of the complicated issues in peace negotiations.

Well-informed sources told the paper that the Turkish foreign minister Ismael Cem told his Syrian counterpart Farouk al-Sharaa during their recent meeting in New York of Ankara's approval to discuss the issue of waters in the meetings of the joint economic committee due to be held shortly in Damascus for the first time since years.