Turkish Parliament Speaker Arinc Leaves For Syria

ANKARA - Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc left for Syria as the guest of Speaker of Syrian People's Assembly Mahmoud al-Abrash on Wednesday.
Arinc told reporters at Ankara's Esenboga Airport that relations between Turkey and Syria further improved recently and noted, ''relations between the two countries have been further improved thanks to mutual understanding, dialogue and cooperation which were settled between the two countries in a short time. I think that mutual visits played an important role in this process.''
Stating that development of relations between parliaments of Turkey and Syria would contribute to cooperation between the two countries, Arinc said, ''I believe that my visit to Syria will further improve friendly ties between peoples of Turkey and Syria.''
Arinc said that his visit had special importance because a Turkish parliament speaker would pay a visit to Syria for the first time.
Arinc stated that he would meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad and Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-Utri during his visit to this country.
(EÖ-AÖ) 07.04.2004