ANKARA - ''Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is closely monitoring developments regarding health of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat'', sources said on Thursday.
Sources said that Gul called Turkey's Consulate General in Jerusalem yesterday (Wednesday), and asked Turkish officials to convey his ''quick recovery'' wishes to Arafat.
Asking if Arafat needed any doctors and medical equipment, Gul stated that Turkey was ready to extend every kind of assistance to Palestine.
Arafat's health worsened last night when he was having dinner with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas and he was taken to the clinic in his compound.
Quoting Palestinian sources, the Israeli media claimed that 75-year-old leader had lost consciousness and had some respiratory problems.
Palestinian minister Saeb Erakat had announced that Arafat was ill but he was not in critical condition.
(BRC-MS) 28.10.2004