Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is to pay a visit to Turkey next week, Turkish diplomatic sources said Wednesday, confirming the recent thaw in relations between the two neighbours which were on the verge of war just five years ago. The sources said Assad was to start a three-day visit on Tuesday, including talks in Ankara with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and a visit to Istanbul, Turkey's main business centre.
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Relations between Syria and Turkey have improved markedly in recent weeks, with the signing of a security agreement in Ankara on December 17. The two Muslim countries have clashed in the past on the issue of Kurdish separatism - both are home to Kurdish minority populations - and on the use of water from the River Euphrates, which they both share. Turkey is also Israel's main ally in the region.
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In 1998 the two neighbours almost went to war, amid recriminations by Turkey over Syria's decision to provide refuge to the Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan and to other members of his Kurdistan Workers' Party. However Ocalan was later expelled from Syria, and has since been captured by Turkish security forces.
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The security agreement signed earlier in December followed Syria's decision to hand over to Ankara 22 Turks suspected of involvement in a series of disastrous suicide bombings which left 62 people dead and hundreds injured in Istanbul in November. Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan condemned the Istanbul bombings as a "hideous crime on a neighbouring state and friend". Syria's Prime Minister Mustapha Miro visited Turkey last July, and predicted a "brilliant future" for relations between the two states. He was the first Syrian premier to visit Turkey in 17 years. |