ANKARA - Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath of Palestine said on Wednesday that Turkey should join committees formed under the structure of ''quartet'' which prepared the road map, in order to support the Middle East peace process in an active way.
Speaking at a conference on ''Palestine-Israel Peace Process and the Future of Road Map'', Shaath said that the quartet of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union (EU) and Russia had made a good beginning in settling peace in the region, adding that this initiate should be supported in the international platforms.
Shaath said that together with other relevant countries, Turkey, which had a responsibility and multilateral relations in the region, should join security, economy and the other committees formed under the structure of the quartet in order to take its place in the Middle East peace process actively.
Noting that an international conference could be held in Turkey on the issue of the Middle East, Shaath said that if Turkey accepted to host such a conference, they would support it.
Shaath said that the Middle East road map was of importance since it was the first international initiative, and called on international community to support the plan.
Describing isolation of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by Israel as ''meaningless'', Shaath expressed his desire about co-existence of Palestine and Israel in peace and harmony.
He underlined that peace could not be settled with a military solution.
Noting that Israeli and Palestinian sides had begun taking pragmatic steps recently, Shaath said that Israel's continuing to build Jewish settlement units had still been constituting an important problem.
Shaath gave information about the peace process between Palestine and Israel.
State Minister Mehmet Aydin, Turkey-Palestine Friendship Group Chairman and Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Huseyin Tanriverdi and diplomatic representatives of many countries attended the conference.
(UK) 16.07.2003