DAMASCUS, 14 April 2005 — Presidents Ahmet Necdet Sezer of Turkey and Syria’s Bashar Assad yesterday agreed to boost links between their countries despite US pressure for Ankara to keep its distance from Damascus. Turkey and Syria will “develop cooperation and bilateral relations in all economic and commercial domains”, Sezer said after meeting Bashar in Damascus.

However, the political crisis in their regional neighbor Lebanon since the assassination of that country’s former Premier Rafik Hariri in mid-February also dominated the talks. Damascus and Ankara are “profoundly attached” to stability and unity in Lebanon, Bashar said in a statement.

Sezer expressed “satisfaction” with the ongoing Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon. The two-day visit, a first to Syria for the Turkish leader, follows a visit by Bashar to Turkey last year.

The two presidents also discussed the situation in Iraq and the Middle East conflict, they said, issues on which they have shared points of view. Bashar hailed “Turkey’s constructive role in favor of a just and far-reaching peace in the region”.

The leaders held one-on-one talks before being joined by Syrian Prime Minister Naji Otri and their delegations.

Government newspaper Tishrin earlier praised Sezer for his “courageous, bold and wise” trip in the face of the “crude pressure exercised by the United States and its flagrant interference in the affairs of a great regional country.”

The United States had asked Turkey to side with its Western allies over calls for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon following the assassination of Hariri. “What can be said on Syria is that the international community is completely unanimous” on a Syrian withdrawal, US ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, said last month.

“We hope Turkey will join the international community.” Turkey supports the withdrawal, but also says it wants to contribute to developing good neighborly ties in the conflict-torn Middle East. Edelman’s call, which came at a cool period in Turkish-US relations due to differences over Iraq, was largely interpreted as a warning for Sezer to drop plans to visit Damascus, which Washington accuses of supporting terrorism.

The Syrian leader had previously hinted that he would discuss with Sezer the role of the United States and European countries in the region, in developments which he said recalled “the colonial era.”

“We can reduce the dangers to a minimum only if we act together. The dangers are threatening all of us. They started with Iraq, now they are threatening Syria and other countries... They are trying to interfere in Turkey’s affairs,” he told CNN-Turk.

Otri said on Tuesday that he welcomed the “important visit ... and its impact on consolidation of ties and cooperation between the two neighborly and friendly countries.”

Turkey and Syria have greatly improved their stormy ties since 1998, when they came to the brink of war over Ankara’s accusations that Damascus was sheltering separatist Kurdish militants fighting the Turkish government. Tensions eased when Damascus expelled Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and signed a security deal with Ankara, pledging to stop supporting Ocalan’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The high point in the improved relationship was an Ankara visit of Bashar in January 2004, the first to Turkey by a Syrian head of state. Turkey has made increasing overtures to Syria since the US-led invasion of Iraq, both neighbors sharing concerns that post-war Iraq may break up and spark new turmoil in the region.

Both Syria and Turkey, which have sizeable Kurdish minorities of their own, oppose moves toward greater autonomy for the Kurds of Iraq.