ANKARA - The United States on Monday urged its ally Turkey to join the international community in its calls for an immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
"What can be said on Syria is that the international community is completely unanimous on UN Security Council Resolution 1559" which calls on Syria to immediately withdraw its forces from Lebanon, US ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.
"We hope Turkey will join the international community. Of course, the decision to do so lies with Turkey," he said in the northwestern Turkish city of Bursa.
Turkey has kept largely silent in recent weeks amid increasing international pressure on its southern neighbour Syria to pull its soldiers out of Lebanon since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February.
Ankara and Damascus have warmed often stormy ties since 1998 when they came to the brink of war over Ankara's accusations that Damascus was sheltering separatist Kurdish militants fighting the Turkish government.
Tensions eased when Damascus expelled Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan from his safe haven in Syria and signed a security deal with Ankara, pledging to stop supporting Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party, better known as the PKK.
Turkey has sought to forge closer relations with Syria since the US-led invasion of Iraq, despite warnings from Washington to limit its cooperation with Damascus.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Syria in December and Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is expected to travel to Damascus in April.
03/14/2005 21:01 GMT