The Turkish prime minister said on Monday that the Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council established last year had both contributed to the bilateral relations between Turkey and Syria, and to the two countries` economies.
In an interview with the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council had turned into a practical cooperation that effectively helped achieve peace, stability and prosperity for the people of the region.
Pointing to the council`s first meeting held in Damascus in December 2009, Erdogan said several agreements had been signed and approved by the two countries during the gathering, and since then, both countries had achieved considerable progress in all the fields such agreements focused on.
Erdogan also said the council`s activities served common benefits of both countries.
Commenting on the trade volume between Turkey and Syria, Erdogan said the two countries` trade volume had reached 2.2 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2010. He said such figure had been 1.4 billion USD during the same period of 2009.
The Turkish prime minister also noted that the dialogue and consultations between Turkey and Syria continued, adding officials of both countries were in constant contact to come up with solutions to regional problems.
Underscoring the promising and important four-way cooperation project between Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Erdogan said such cooperation was a unique model in the region and it would contribute to efforts aiming at achieving peace, stability and prosperity.
The Turkish premier said that his country was seeking to consult with all its neighbors and regional countries through positive agendas to achieve more cooperation, cast away conflicts and confrontations, and implement joint plans and projects to achieve everyone`s interests.
Regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Erdogan said Turkey was deeply concerned over USA`s failure to convince Israel to stop construction of Jewish settlements in Palestine.
Erdogan also called on USA and EU member countries to pressure Israel to change its current policies that hindered peace and stability in the region.
Commenting on the Israeli attack on Mavi Marmara aid ship, Erdogan said Turkey`s demands on the issue had not changed and reiterated that Israel should apologize to the Republic of Turkey and pay a certain compensation for the normalization of its relations with Turkey.
Concerning Turkey-EU relations, the Turkish prime minister said there were broad, comprehensive and dynamic relations between the two sides that constantly evolved in all political, economic and cultural fields.
Noting that Turkey had been fulfilling its duties and responsibilities in its EU membership talks, Erdogan said negotiations did not proceed as fast as they should due to obstacles placed by some member countries.
Regarding Cyprus issue, Erdogan noted that Turkey supported of all efforts exerted to find a comprehensive solution to the matter.