ANKARA, Feb 1 (AFP) - Israelis and the Palestinians are making progress towards much-craved peace in the volatile Middle East, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said here Tuesday amid signs that the long-stalled peace process may be revived.
Abbas said that the two sides were holding "uninterrupted" talks and that preparations were underway for a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and himself.
"Nowadays we are making progress towards realizing the desired peace in the region," Abbas said through an interpreter after talks with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
The planned summit between Abbas and Sharon -- which the Palestinian leader tentatively scheduled for February 8 in an interview with a Russian newspaper -- will be the first between the two sides in over four years.
The Israeli leadership refused to have any contact with Abbas's late predecessor, Yasser Arafat, but Abbas's election in a Januray 9 vote has been hailed by the international community as an opportunity to be seized for peace.
As testimony to increased hopes of a breakthrough in the stalled Mideast peace process, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Sharon's top adviser on Monday to discuss a possible Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire ahead of her first trip to the region next week as chief US diplomat.
Abbas said he had discussed with Sezer the need to take the US-backed roadmap for a settlement as the basis of a "comprehensive, lasting and just peace".
"Security and peace in the region can be made possible only through the implementation of this roadmap," he added.
Sezer for his part underlined that peace in the Middle East can be achieved only after the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pledged Turkey's support to the peace process.
"In our meeting, I told Abbas that Turkey's support for the peace process and the Palestinians on their way towards setting up an independent state will increase," Sezer said.
Turkey, a strictly secular non-Arab Muslim nation, believes it is in a position to facilitate peace initiatives in the Middle East, drawing on its close ties with both Israel and the Palestinians.
As Abbas held talks with Sezer, Israel's army chief Moshe Yaalon met with his Turkish counterpart Hilmi Ozkok behind closed doors for talks aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.
Ankara has had a flourishing alliance with Tel Aviv since the two sides signed a military deal in 1996, much to the ire of Iran and some Arab states.
But it also supports the Palestinian claim for statehood and has also not refrained from criticising Israel's conduct in Palestinian territories.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out at what he called "state terror" after a deadly Israeli operation in the Rafah region of southern Gaza last May, and Ankara temporarily recalled its ambassador.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul paid a fence-mending visit to Israel in early January in which he declared that bilateral ties were strong.
Abbas, who is accompanied by his foreign minister Nabil Shaath, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and business leaders later Tuesday and will leave on Wednesday after meeting Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc.
02/01/2005 14:39 GMT - AFP