DAMASCUS, 26 January 2004 — Syria’s information minister gave a lukewarm welcome yesterday to an agreement for Turkey to mediate in possible peace talks with Israel.
“If (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan has proposed to do something about the peace process, we wish him success in his efforts,” Ahmad Al-Hassan told a group of Iraqi artists visiting Damascus.
“Maybe (Erdogan) can convince the Sharon government to stop its violations of international law and its refusal to implement (UN) Security Council resolutions (on the Israeli-Arab conflict),” he said.
On Saturday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Turkish premier had said both Israel and Syria had agreed to a mediation by Ankara.
Syria, which recently said it was open to a resumption of talks, wants to recover the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau captured by Israel in 1967.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the negotiations, which broke down four years ago, must start again from scratch and has insisted on a halt to Syrian support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
