Turkey and the resumption of peace talks between Israel and Syria

The Turkish Daily News issued in Ankara on Friday quoted sources at the Turkish Foreign Ministry as saying that despite Turkey's continued concern over its relations with Syria, relations which had almost reached war between the two countries, Turkey is strongly backing the Middle East peace process and the resumption of dialogue between Syria and Israel.

The sources added that Ankara always stands besides peace and that Turkish President Suleiman Demirel and Foreign Minister Ismael Cem had expressed this very stand on the highest official levels.

The sources explained that Turkey categorically refuses the hypothesis which claims that the improvement in the Syrian-Israeli relations will negatively reflect on the Turkish-Israeli relations and that, contrary to that Turkey has repeatedly announced, it will back all peaceful efforts because reaching a peace agreement would strengthen stability in the region.

The same sources added that Turkey is persistent that the Turkish- Israeli and the Turkish- Syrian relations are two separate issues, adding that the question of water debated during the Israeli-Syrian talks in 1996 dealt with the Turkish water that will be provided to Syria in case a Syrian-Israeli peace agreement is reached.

Meanwhile the Turkish Daily News quoted the spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Ankara, Gelad Cohen, as saying that an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement will be in the interest of Turkey and the region as a whole, adding that the Israelis have informed the Turkish officials about the coming peace talks between Israel and Syria and that the Israeli officials realized a very positive stand by the Turkish officials. The paper added that the Israelis also hear positive reactions from President Demirel and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

Cohen added "the Turkish officials told us that they will be happy and are wishing to offer help to backing this process."

The same Turkish paper quoted Arab diplomatic sources in Ankara as saying that the resumption of peace talks is a good sign for Turkish-Syrian relations as "disputes between the two countries (Syria and Turkey) are not as deep as those between Israel and Syria."

The sources added if two countries such as Syria and Israel can settle their disputes, it would be much easier to solve the arising disputes between Syria and Turkey.