Turkey's Erdogan to visit Syria for Middle East talks

02/09/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Syria on Thursday (September 4th) to discuss developments in the Middle East. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will host the meeting as the current president of the Arab League. Also participating are French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar, which holds the presidency of the Gulf Co-operation Council. Turkey has been mediating indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria. (Zaman, Sabah, Milliyet, Vatan - 02/09/08; Hurriyet, Anadolu news agency, CNN Turk - 01/09/08)