ANKARA - Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu received on Tuesday Syrian Political Security Department Chairman Gen. Gazi Muhammed Kenan and the accompanying delegation who came to Ankara to attend the Turkish-Syrian Security Cooperation Meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Aksu said that a good basis was formed in Turkish-Syrian relations with the agreements reached and the agreements concluded, adding that it was pleasing to see that a new cooperation model was developed by the good neighbourhood relations.
Aksu stressed that the developments in the world necessitated use of all sorts of cooperation possibilities, adding that ''Turkey and Syria are the two most important states of our region. The cooperation between our countries will directly be useful to regional peace and stability. Particularly a cooperation opportunity that can be formed in the fight with terrorism under the leadership of our countries will serve our region's becoming a safer place.''
Aksu said that Turkey exerted great efforts for making the peace and stability govern the Middle East and the East Mediterranean, adding that he hoped to host his Syrian counterpart in Turkey in near future.
Referring to the relations between the two countries, Aksu said that ''the political dialogue between the countries also prepare a suitable means for improving economic cooperation... The commercial relations between the two countries should be further improved. Measures which can be taken in the field of transit passage will be enough for us to increase the trade volume significantly.''
Aksu said that the meetings which would start on Wednesday would yield beneficial consequences for both countries.
Syrian Political Security Department's Chairman Gen. Muhammed Kenan said in his part that they aimed at upgrading the relations in the fields of economy, culture and military by the instruction of Syrian President Assad.
Kenan said that the trade volume which was 300 million dollars would increase by the agreements to be concluded, adding that the visit of Syrian Prime Minister to Turkey was also in question.
''Turkey and Syria launched efforts to prevent an intervention against Iraq. We want to upgrade our relations to the highest level. We formed the atmosphere of confidence in a short time, the security of Turkey is our security,'' he said.
(ÖS-AÖ) 11.03.2003