Region | Syria
Turkey 'mediating peace pact with Syria and Israel'
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Thursday said that Turkey is mediating a peace deal between his country and Israel, reported a Qatari newspaper
- By Barbara Bibbo, Correspondent
- Published: 00:45 April 25, 2008
Doha: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Thursday said that Turkey is mediating a peace deal between his country and Israel, reported a Qatari newspaper.
The remarks came a few days after top Israeli and Turkish officials met in Doha during a democracy forum and ahead of a visit by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Damascus on Saturday.
The Qatari Arabic daily Al Watan published yesterday excerpts from its interview with the Syrian leader, whose remarks will be published in their entirety next week..
In his one-to one talk with Al Watan, President Al Assad said direct negotiations with Israel would be possible only after the election of the new US president, as the US remains the only party qualified to sponsor direct talks.
"The preliminary stages of talks [with Israel] will be held with Turkey as a go-between. Maybe with the coming administration in the United States we can talk about direct negotiations," Al Watan quoted the president as saying.
The Syrian president said Turkish mediation started in April last year and has yielded an Israeli offer for a withdrawal from the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty with Syria.
He said a week ago Syria received the news Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "assured" the Turkish prime minister of his readiness to return the Golan.
"What we need now is to find common ground through the Turkish mediator," Al Assad said.
The Turkish Prime minister and Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni met in Doha last week on the sidelines of the eight Doha forum on Democracy, Trade and Development. The two officials held a closed meeting but the content of the talks was not revealed.
On the sidelines of the conference however, diplomatic sources told Gulf News a peace deal with Syria was not at the top of the agenda of the Israeli foreign minister, while organisers said Syrian officials had cancelled their participation at the forum because of Livni's attendance.
Israel occupied the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war. The two countries last held talks in 2000, but negotiations reached a deadlock over the extent of Israel's proposed withdrawal.
However to date, Israel has not committed publicly to return the Golan Heights and has asked Syria to stop its support for Hezbollah and Hamas in exchange for peace talks.
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