Syrian- Turkish security committee to meet at month's end in Damascus

Diplomatic sources in Damascus said the meeting of the Syrian-Turkish security committee will be held on November 29 in Damascus under the leadership of the chairman of the Syrian political security branch, Lt. Gen. Adnan Bader Hassan, and the chief of the Turkish Second Army, Eitash Yalman.

The sources stated that the talks, which will be attended by officers and officials representing the two sides, will deal with continued implementation of the bilateral security agreement signed in October 1998 in the Turkish city of Adanah.

Meanwhile, Syrian sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the Syrian delegation had asked during the meeting of last June in Turkey to have a copy "of [PKK leader Abdullah] Ocalan's confessions, so as to refute the Turkish claims that there are members, headquarters and bank accounts for the Kurdistani Workers Party [PKK] in the Syrian territories."

The Syrians also asked to receive several Muslim Brothers members who fled to Turkey in the 1980s against Ankara's demands from Syria to hand over members of the PKK, in reference to the "reciprocated treatment."

The Turks are expected to renew their demand for Lebanon's joining of the Syrian-Turkish committee. It is, however, known that the Syrian position towards this matter that "Lebanon is a sovereign state, and that it can decide on that." Earlier Lebanese officials refused to join the meeting because Lebanon has no connection to it and Lebanon has no joint borders with Turkey.

Meanwhile, contacts continue between Syria and Turkey to arrange re-convening the economic committee meeting in order to discuss the development of bilateral relations. These include the issue of water and the partition of the waters of the Euphrates after this issue was approved by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismael Cem and discussed during his meeting two months ago with his Syrian counterpart, Farouk al-Sharaaí in New York.