ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul would give the message during his visit to Israel and Palestine that Turkey was ready to make concrete and original contributions to the Middle East peace process, Namik Tan, spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday.
Tan told weekly press conference that Gul would visit Israel and Palestine between January 4th and 5th, and take up bilateral relations as well as cooperation opportunities during his meetings.
Stressing the importance of conjuncture of Gul's visit to those two countries, Tan recalled that the Palestinians would elect their new leader on January 9th, 2005.
Tan said, ''a moderate atmosphere has started to prevail between the two parties in recent days. This is a pleasing development.''
Recalling that Gul had always stressed that a lasting solution should be found to the Middle East problem, Tan said, ''therefore, he will express our expectation to the parties that they should take action to serve this final target. Also, he will say that Turkey, as a country which has been trusted by both of the parties, is ready to make concrete and original contributions (to the Middle East peace process).''
Tan stated that Gul was scheduled to meet Israeli President Moshe Katsav, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Palestinian Parliament Speaker Rauhi Fattouh and Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath.
Answering a question, Tan said that Gul would proceed to Jordan to attend a meeting planned to be held as a part of the regional initiative on Iraq on January 6th, 2005.
(BRC-MS)
2004-12-29