Gul Meets With His Malaysian, Tunisian, Pakistani And Syrian Counterparts

PUTRAJAYA - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul held on Tuesday separate meetings with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia, Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmoodand Kasuri and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara.
Diplomatic sources said that Iraq issue was the main item of agenda of Gul's meetings.
Gul informed the ministers about the authorization given to government by parliament to send soldiers to Iraq and explained Turkey's point of view.
Foreign Minister Gul laid down some proposals to make OIC more active during his meeting with OIC Term President Malaysia's Foreign Minister Albar and said that he could submit a written text of the proposals.
Gul expressed his views on Iraq during his meeting with Tunisian Foreign Minister Yahia while Yahia said that his country was also inculcated by the United States with dispatch of soldiers and was evaluating the issue.
Sources noted that Pakistani and Turkish sides exchanged views about possible regions of deployment of soldiers in Iraq.
Main agenda of Gul's meeting with al-Shara was also Iraq and Shara said that his country could understand Turkey's attitude and appreciated it.
Gul and al-Shara discussed details of visit that Syrian President Bashar al-Asad planned to pay to Turkey. Al-Asad is expected to visit Ankara in winter.
Meanwhile, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who will attend the 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference of OIC in Malaysia on October 16-18, can meet with al-Asad and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
(BRC) 14.10.2003