JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli President Moshe Katsav received on Tuesday Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who is on a tour to the Middle East covering Israel, Palestine and Jordan.
Answering a question if he brought a message regarding Syria after the meeting, Gul said that it was time for a comprehensive peace, and Turkey would do its best for such a peace.
Gul pointed out that Turkey had good relations with Syria in recent days, and said, ''we will be pleased if we can contribute to the peace process.''
Sources said that Turkish-Israeli relations, Middle Eastern peace process and Turkey's European Union (EU) were high on agenda during Katsav-Gul meeting.
The same sources quoted Gul as saying that they were going through a very historic period regarding Arab-Israeli dispute, and an important opportunity had occurred.
Gul was also quoted as saying that all parties should forget the past and work hard to make best use of this positive atmosphere.
During his meeting with Katsav, Gul said that Turkey aimed to make the maximum contribution to efforts to find a solution to the Middle Eastern dispute, and added that Turkey was ready to extend every kind of support within this framework.
The same sources quoted Katsav as saying that he supported Turkey's EU membership bid during his meetings with western statesmen who visited Israel.
Noting that both Gul and Katsav expressed pleasure with economic and commercial relations between two countries, the same sources said that Katsav asked Gul to convey his best regards to Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
Gul also conveyed best regards of Sezer to Katsav during the meeting, sources added.
Before he was received by Katsav, Gul visited Haram al-Sharif.
(BRC-A֩
2005-01-04