Middle East News
Hamas Delegation, Turkish Foreign Policy Advisor Return to Cairo
Jan 12, 2009, 17:59 GMT
Cairo - A Hamas delegation and a senior Turkish foreign policy advisor returned to Cairo from Damascus Monday, airport sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Ahmet Davotoglu, chief foreign policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was in Damascus for talks with Hamas in Damascus and with the Syrian authorities. He returned to Cairo Monday evening by private plane, airport sources said.
The Hamas delegation returned aboard an Egyptian plane following consultations with leaders of the group living in exile in Damascus on the Egyptian ceasefire initiative.
Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki denied that Turkey was party to the talks between Egypt and Hamas after Davotoglu arrived at the head of a Turkish delegation on Sunday.
'Contrary to media reports, Egypt and Hamas are the only parties negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza,' Hossam Zaki told Egypt's official MENA news agency on Sunday.
The Egyptian proposal suggests easing the blockade on Gaza while tightening border security to curtail smuggling of weapons and other contraband from Egypt to Gaza.
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