F.M.: Israel's Attack On Syria Is Violation Of Syria's Sovereignty And Can't Be Accepted

ANKARA - Turkey stated on Monday that Israel's air strike on a camp in Syria was a violation of Syria's sovereignty and could not be accepted.
A statement of the Foreign Ministry said that Turkey feared that such an incident could escalate tension in the region and noted, ''we expect all sides to act with restraint and common sense and prevent a new tension.''
The statement drew attention to the terrorist attack staged on a restaurant in Haifa on October 4 and said, ''Haifa is a city where Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens are living in harmony. Also, Arabs died in the attack. Turkey harshly condemns this terrorist attack and offers condolences to relatives of those who died in the attacks.''
Recent developments ''once more proved that ongoing heavy atmosphere in the Middle East could have a tendency to spread rapidly and be out of control,'' the statement underlined.
The statement said, ''responsibility of sides in Israeli-Palestinian dispute and solution of this dispute are certain. Palestinian administration is responsible for fulfilling its obligations stemming from the road map. Israel should also fulfil requirements of the road map and assume approaches which will ground its fight against terrorism on a legal basis, support the joint fight against terrorism, and relieve the atmosphere, particularly the living conditions of the Palestinians.''
All sides in the region should refrain from assuming their attitudes according to agenda determined by the terrorists, the statement pointed out.
The statement added, ''it is a basic need for all regional countries to be fully determined to fight against terrorist organizations and not to be a shelter for terrorists. All countries should fulfil their obligations required by international cooperation in fight against terrorism.''
(BRC-AÖ) 06.10.2003