ANKARA (CIHAN) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not be able to meet Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is to pay an official visit to Ankara next week due to his busy schedule.
Although he will not be able to meet the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Minister Erdogan is expected to receive the Syrian Prime Minister Naci Otri on the same day.
Turkish-Israeli relations have been tense for the last two years because of Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people and allegations that the Israeli army is training Kurdish peshmergas in Northern Iraq.
The Israeli and Syrian delegations will have meetings with Turkish officials focused in particular on economic relations. Senior Israeli and Syrian economic bureaucrats will accompany Olmert and Otri.
Syrian Prime Minister Naci Otri will also be received by the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and the Turkish Parliament Speaker Bülent Arýnç.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper had reported last week that the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Olmert would be received by Prime Minister Erdogan, and that Olmert was to bring three messages from the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Erdogan.
The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has so far rejected the requests of the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be allowed to make a visit to Turkey. Erdogan has also rejected the calls of some Israelis to visit Israel in order to protest against Israeli state policy against Palestinians and against allegations concerning the ambitions of Israel in Northern Iraq.