ANKARA - Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc will pay an official visit to Syria between April 7 and 10, 2004.
Arinc told A.A on Wednesday, ''the bilateral relations between Turkey and Syria had been extremely bad in the last five decades. However, these relations have been improved recently as a result of a series of initiatives. Many agreements have been signed during Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's visit to Turkey in January. Consequently, the two neighboring countries have set up friendly relations.''
Recalling that he had been holding frequent telephone conversations with his Syrian counterpart, Arinc said, ''I want parliaments representing their people to have friendly relations with each other. Turkey can invest in Syria. We should rely on friendly relations with Syria since it is an important country in regard to our relations with the Middle East.''
''As you know, the confidence in Turkey in efforts to resolve problems between Syria and Israel is of great importance. Also, there are many things to be carried out jointly by Turkey and Syria in regard to providing peace and order in the Middle East due to events in Iraq. I believe that our visit to Syria would further strengthen our relations,'' Arinc added.
(UK-AÖ) 24.03.2004