ANKARA - Turkish government's spokesman said on Monday that Turkey maintained its active policy regarding the Middle East.
Spokesman Cemil Cicek, also the state minister and deputy premier of Turkey, said Turkey was pursuing an active policy regarding Palestinian-Israeli dispute and developments in Iraq.
"Any dispute or insolvability in the Middle East affects Turkey directly or at a great extent," Cicek told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.
Cicek reaffirmed Turkey's desire to contribute to settlement of disputes in that region.
Spokesman Cicek said the sooner those conflicts were solved, the better it would be for regional and world peace.
Cicek also said Turkey wanted to play a role to help Syria and Israel sit at a negotiation table in order to solve their conflict, when commenting on Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Turkey enjoys deep-rooted historical, cultural and traditional ties with the Middle East and desires to promote cordial relations with all the countries and peoples of the region. Turkey has always desired to see a just, comprehensive and lasting peace take root in this conflict-ridden region and advocated dialogue as the vehicle to achieve that objective.
The main pillars of Turkey's Middle East policy are improvement of relations with all the countries of the region in every field and contribution to the expansion of regional stability, security and prosperity through webs of economic inter-dependence. Turkey's participation in the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) and in the UN Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), as well as its active role at the International Donors' Conference for the State of Palestine that was organized in Paris in the aftermath of the Annapolis Conference are the most recent examples of Turkey's tangible contributions to regional peace and stability.
On May 1st workers' day, Cicek said Turkey had experienced grievous incidents on these days in the past, and asked unions to behave responsibility and calmly to prevent any negative incident.
(BRC)