SEZER: WE WILL DISCUSS STEPS WHICH WE CAN TAKE ON FURTHER IMPROVEMENT OF OUR BILATERAL RELATIONS
ANKARA - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer welcomed on Tuesday his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad who arrived in Ankara early the same day on a three-day official visit.
Speaking after the official welcome ceremony, President Sezer said President al-Assad's visit was the first ever official visit by a Syrian head of state to Turkey, adding that the visit had a historical quality and special meaning. The President stated, ''al-Assad's visit constitutes the highest level indicator of recent swift improvement in relations between Turkey and Syria on basis of mutual respect, understanding and dialogue.''
Noting that they would discuss all aspects of relations between the two countries in detail, President Sezer said, ''we will discuss also the steps which we can take on further improvement of our bilateral relations.''
President Sezer stated that they would also exchange opinions on regional and international matters like Israel-Palestine conflict, efforts to settle peace in the Middle East and Iraq.
Stressing that the two countries were situated in a very problematic geography, the President said that al-Assad's visit was being paid during a very sensitive period for the Middle East region.
President Sezer stated, ''no much time should be wasted to turn the enmity, insecurity and instability which unfortunately exist in our region, into an environment where peace, stability and prosperity prevail. We will have the opportunity of discussing the cooperation which we can make under this framework.''
President Sezer added that he believed al-Assad's visit would contribute to peace and stability of the region and to further development of bilateral relations.
ASSAD: WE SHOULD REPLACE UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE IN OUR REGION WITH A STABLE ENVIRONMENT
Syrian President al-Assad said that he was pleased to be the first Syrian head of state paying an official visit to Turkey.
Al-Assad said that his visit occurred as the same time as relations between Turkey and Syria were 'climbing to peak' although the region where the two countries were situated was going through a bad period.
Noting that mutual high-level visits which had been paid in the past were the initiator of the current situation of bilateral relations, al-Assad said that they were grateful to President Sezer for his visit to Damascus after demise of Syrian Head of State Hafez al-Assad.
Stressing that bilateral relations had currently reached a point in which they could take pride, al-Assad said that they had settled a safe and secure environment together with Turkey and they should replace unstable atmosphere in the region with a stable environment.
Recalling that he had had the chance of closely following Turkish press before his visit to Turkey, al-Assad added that his visit would be a historical visit that would unite the two sister countries and their peoples and would suit the concrete bilateral relations which had roots deep in history.
06.01.2004