Erdogan offers to seek reopen Syrian-Israeli talks (Roundup)

Jul 22, 2009, 16:28 GMT

   Damascus - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that Turkey would attempt to weigh the possibility of mediating between Syria and the new rightwing government in Israel, Syria's official SANA news agency reported.

Erdogan made the remarks before leaving the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after a 'private' meeting with Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.

The Israeli centre-right government of former prime minister Ehud Olmert began indirect talks with Syria last year after an eight-year hiatus.

The Turkish-mediated talks broke down last summer, and Turkish- Israeli relations were badly strained by Israel's January offensive in the Gaza Strip.

   In the following February, Erdogan angrily walked out of a panel that including Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

   Turkey had previously offered to broker Syrian-Israeli talks, provided they focus on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategically important plateau at the border of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

   Israel occupied the plateau in the 1967 Middle East war.

   Erdogan restated Turkey's willingness to act as an intermediary in Syrian-Israeli peace talks prior to Wednesday's visit to Syria.