President al-Assad and Erdogan… agreements between Syria and Turkey re-drew the map of the Middle East

 DAMASCUS-President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday said :the signing of the agreements between Syria and Turkey has re-drawn the map of the Middle East and has broken the borders between the two countries.

The president said during his talks with Turkish Prime Minister , Recep Tayyip Erdogan "The second independence will be achieved when we are capable of decision-making."

For his part, Mr. Erdogan said :" We are taking in this critical stage a historic step ",stressing that the course of the Syrian-Turkish relations is not only the concern of Middle East region , but also of the whole world."

Erdogan congratulated and blessed all those who worked and exerted efforts from both sides to accomplish what was required.

"The Syrian-Turkish relations have become well known for everybody and an example to be followed on the brotherly ties between the two peoples and countries." President al-Assad said during a joint press conference with Mr. Erdogan following the talks.

"The achievements and fruits of those deep relations became tangible in our region in all fields… they became a reality that anyone couldn't ignore in any case,""What has been achieved of successes regarding those relations during the latest years was based on a popular base for the two peoples, but this factor is not enough… the most important factor is the strong and common will that we have possessed… the will which aims at making the joint future, drawing and formulating this future by our hands," the President added.

President al-Assad went on to say that "this is what we have sought and worked with Mr.Erdogan during the last years… whoever respects himself and his homeland gains the support of his people… whoever stands by the just causes in the world and his region gains the respect of the people of that region.. and he who uses his cards above the table, not under that table, which means in the light not in the dark, gains the respect of the world.

The President clarified "What the Syrian-Turkish relations have achieved over the past few years is very important in spite of the short time they have taken for these achievements and the hard circumstances which have faced them." .

President al-Assad continued"We look at the Syrian-Turkish relations through the aspirations of our peoples and the huge capacities available in both countries …We consider that what we have achieved is very little and we still have a long way to go, that is why we meet today within a series of meetings which started in the past and will continue in the future," .

President al-Assad went on saying "These meetings aim at pushing the relations between the two countries forward and laying new cornerstones for the huge building we have established together on the official level with great support on the public level."

President Bashar al-Assad stressed that the challenge which will start tomorrow is how to translate the Syrian-Turkish agreements, memos of understanding and achievements into action. This means a heavy burden and responsibility.

"We did not restrict our talks to the bilateral side; the political side took a major part of the talks today with my brother Erdogan. As we all know, the world at large is greatly interested today in the peace process more than ever before; seemingly, this is because the peace process, sorrowfully, is dying. The peace process needs interest not only when it fails, but also when it starts to succeed, and this is why we always see this process fluctuating up and down." the President added.

President al-Assad asserted "The Turkish mediator was very honest, just and objective…The mediator was successful and we underline the importance of this role today more than ever."

 "This doesn't mean that we reject any help …I tell my brother Erdogan that we want and we might need the help of any country in the world which is interested in this issue, but this doesn't mean substituting or ignoring who was successful in this process under false and unacceptable pretexts." He added.

President al-Assad affirmed that the Syrian-Turkish meeting is different from any other meeting. "We are not the audience in a stadium nor are we fans of the peace process; Turkey is one of the key players in the peace process."

President al-Assad said, "We are not meeting today, consequently, to ask Erdogan or encourage him to play his role as a broker in the peace process. Turkey has announced many times its readiness to play this role. Erdogan did not come also to encourage Syria to keep its commitment to the peace process; he knows more than the others the willingness of Syria to realize and achieve just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. We were discussing today how to get the peace process out of the deadlock to which it has reached whose main cause, we think, and many others in the world share in this, is the absence of a serious Israeli partner who seeks achievement of peace in the Middle East."

"We are today in front of an illusory who proposes himself as a player or partner in the peace process, but the truth is exactly the opposite, and if we want to stress that, there would be no better evidence than the Israeli idioms used to maneuver the peace process. The truth is that those idioms have increased up to a level that we always have to carry in our pockets a dictionary to interpret and translate them. For example, when they say that we want unconditional negotiations, this means, according to the dictionary, that they want negotiations with no bases because negotiations with no conditions or with no bases are the same as a baseless construction so easy to destroy, and they want to destroy the peace process." the President added.

President al-Assad said, "When they say that the Turkish mediator is neutral or biased this means, according to the international idioms, that it was an objective mediator. Objectivity in the peace process must lead to success, and success in Israel is not needed as it was before."

President al-Assad went on saying, "When they say that peace returns land, consequently, we have to start negotiations and then the land comes as an outcome, this means negotiations according to the Palestinian way: endless negotiations."

President al-Assad clarified that the return of land achieves peace and not the opposite, but the return of land tangible after signing a peace deal is just a matter of procedures. "Trade volume between the two countries reached to 2 billions USD in 2008, but during the coming years we have to increase this volume to 5 billions USD," Erdogan said.

President al-Assad said, every one who contributes to the siege on Gaza, bears the responsibility of the Palestinian blood stressing that such an issue is a source of pain to every Syrian, Turkish, and Arab citizen or a Moslem.

President al-Assad added :" I want in this framework to thank the Turkish people because the Artery of Life Convoy which passed Syria few days ago , comprised of a large number of trucks loaded with provisions for our brothers in Gaza and two third of these provisions were provided as a gift from the Turkish people.

For his part, Turkish Prime Minister said, Syria is Turkish gate into the Middle East and is a second home, and Turkey is also a second home to the Syrians and Syria's gate opening to Europe , and there is a historical and cultural kinship between the two countries which has been promoted by a high level strategic cooperation .

Erdogan continued ' I along with ten ministers and with the concerned Syrian ministers as one government of both countries, signed many agreements. Erdogan pointed out to the Transport Ministers of both countries who opened yesterday Gaziantep-Aleppo railway line, and indicating that work is underway to accomplish the railway line between Damascus and Hijaz."

He added that these steps which are big commercially and socio-economically are very important for Turkey. He said:"Our trade and economic relations in addition to what has been achieved previously will have their impact although the volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached USD 2 billions in 2008."

He went on to say that all the activities accomplished today aimed at promoting the Syrian-Turkish relations and expanding the existing relations in the interests of the two peoples.

He affirmed that the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council is not between Syria and Turkey alone but between Syria and Iraq, between Jordan and Turkey , and between Turkey and Lebanon, pointing out that when such activities are developed, the region will turn into a region of peace thanks to this council , calling for the continuation of cooperation and solidarity and to boost this in the future.

Erdogan said, "We have sent an aid convoy, and this convoy passed from Turkey to Syria and Jordan, and it will have to reach to Gaza."

For his part, Edogan added, "Talks continued from last night until 3 o'clock in the morning, and we started today working and we met President al-Assad, and we are now presenting a statement to the whole world that we have started this serious work through signing 51 agreements and memos of understanding".

Erdogan said, "Syria is our gate into the Middle East, and it is our second home as Turkey is the second home for the Syrians and Syria's gate into Europe. There is historical and cultural relationship between the two countries, and we enhanced them through the high-level strategic cooperation. Now, I am with ten Syrian ministers concerned in these agreements as if we were one government from two countries."

Erdogan added, "Syria and Turkey believe in that and we are now making a step in this direction, and we will succeed in that despite of what some people say."

He said, "We can make remarkable steps in the field of environment and we have a north-east Anatolia project in the field of agriculture and I think that this project in the southern Syrian governorates is possible, and we can make steps in the future as we have very big investments in that region, and we started this march and we will reach USD 25 billions in 2013.

Erdogan pointed out, "What we earn from that is the contribution to the safety of the Middle East, and this is why I believe that we will succeed in this mission and in what is related to Tigris River and Orontes River and the achievements in these regions will lead to combating dryness in the region, and I can see this happening from now."

With regard to the possibility of visiting Lebanon , and with the Turkish role contributing to the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hriri's visit to Syria, President al-Assad said that few people new about the Turkish role with regard to the Lebanese issue , "I want to underline now that the Turkish role was far from the media , and was not seeking to project that role but was focused in the framework of my brother Prime Minister Erdogan talked about on that the relations between the countries should be integral and natural and full of amity and mutual respect…. and in fact the region last year has gone far in that direction through the development of the Syrian-Saudi relations, and recently through the development of the Syrian –Lebanese relations….and in this framework Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hriri's visit to Syria was successful and laid integral institutional basis for the relation with Lebanon."

President al-Assad continued:" I officially visited Lebanon in 2002 and it is natural form me to visit Lebanon one day…it will not be surprising...in fact no invitation is extended ,and some steps in the relation between the two countries should be taken , and this will not take a long time…at the same time the Lebanese government is new and it might have internal priorities in Lebanon ,before starting to think with the issue of external relations… but my answer as I said a little while ago is positive and of course I'm interested in visiting Lebanon but in due time."

On the possibility of establishing the regional economic space which was raised by Erdogan during his meeting with President al-Assad in the light of the absence of a secure and stable environment in the region due to the presence of the Israeli occupation which has no desire for peace and to the instability in Iraq , Erdogan said that all the current activities are not connected with the Israeli position , and the Strategic cooperation council was established bilaterally , and that can be accomplished easily and there is nothing that can prevent this , and we should have confidence in each other.

He added that the trade volume between Syria and Turkey for example started by USD 350 million and now has reached USD 2 billions and in the coming three or four years it will reach USD 5 billions .

In reply to a question whether Turkey felt that she is welcome by Israel to play the role of a mediator in the indirect talks between Syria and Israel, Erdogan said" Turkey can not assign itself to the task in these issues… the Syrian brothers welcome the mediation while Israel consider Erdogan as biased . For that reason we can not put pressure, but if Turkey is asked to embark on tasks she will be ready for that."

Later, President al-Assad and his wife held a dinner in honor of Mr. Erdogan and his wife.

Thursday 24-12-2009