ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has highlighted importance of co-operation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia in fight against terrorism.
Gul and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia held a joint press conference on Thursday after their bilateral meeting.
He said that al-Faysal's visit to Turkey would accelerate the bilateral relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
''There have been friendly relations between Turkish and Saudi governments and peoples. We target to further improve our bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia in every field. The bilateral issues, economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and co-operation in fight against terrorism were discussed during our meeting,'' he said.
Highlighting importance of co-operation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia in fight against terrorism, Gul told reporters, ''as a country which suffered much from terrorism, Turkey distressed about acts of terrorism in Saudi Arabia.''
Noting that regional issues were high on agenda of their meeting, Gul said, ''we also referred to the Iraq issue in detail. I believe that co-operation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia will also make valuable contributions to our region.''
Meanwhile, al-Faysal said in his part that they were determined to work hard to further improve good relations between the two countries.
He stressed that development of co-operation in fight against terrorism would be beneficial for both countries.
Al-Faysal said that they were in favor of preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity.
When asked whether Saudi Arabia would support Turkey's candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu for secretariat general of the Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC), al-Faysal recalled that the new OIC secretary general would be chosen from Asia in the coming term.
Noting that there were three candidate countries, al-Faysal called on them to convene, hold consultations and reduce the candidates to one.
Upon a question about level of co-operation between Saudi Arabia and the United States, al-Faysal said that the Security Commission had been carrying out works to this end.
Al-Faysal noted that presence of the commission was not a guarantee to put an end to acts of violence.
Al-Faysal added that besides bilateral co-operation, international co-operation was required in fight against terrorism.
ERDOGAN RECEIVES AL-FAYSAL
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received on Thursday Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan's Foreign Affairs Chief Advisor Ender Arat, Foreign Affairs Advisor Egemen Bagis and some Foreign Ministry bureaucrats also attended the meeting.
Prime Ministry Press Center stated that relations between two countries and regional issues were taken up in the meeting.
PRESIDENT SEZER RECEIVES FOREIGN MINISTER AL-FAYSAL OF SAUDI ARABIA
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer received on Thursday Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia and the accompanying delegation at the Presidential Palace.
Turkish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul also attended the meeting.
(EÖ-AY) 22.04.2004