Turkey backs Arab Mideast peace plan (Roundup)

Sep 10, 2009, 17:45 GMT

Amman - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed his country's support Thursday for the Arab peace initiative which envisages an Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

'We support the Arab peace initiative which seeks a durable solution that establishes peace not only in the region but in the world at large, because the Palestinian issue affects every corner of this globe,' Davuoglu told a press conference he addressed jointly with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

'Durable and comprehensive peace can only be realized through the setting up of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders,' he added.

The Turkish foreign minister denied Israeli reports that he had cancelled a trip to Israel scheduled for next month. 'The report is baseless because there was no plan to pay such a visit to Israel,' he said.

Davutoglu held talks earlier Thursday with King Abdullah II and Prime Minister Nader Dahabi that focused on latest developments in the US-led efforts towards a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Jordanian leaders warned that the latest Israeli plan to build 455 housing units in the occupied Palestinian territories was set to 'derail' the US administration's attempts to achieve a breakthrough in the stalled peace process.

The Turkish foreign minister pointed out that Ankara would continue its good offices to remove the latest row between Iraq and Syria.

He praised the 'positive outcome' of the meeting in Cairo on Wednesday that grouped him along with the foreign ministers of Syria and Iraq and the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

As a result of the meeting, Iraq and Syria reportedly agreed to send back their ambassadors to the respective capitals and stop media campaigns that began after Baghdad accused Damascus of giving shelter to elements allied with the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

For his part, Judeh highly appreciated Turkey's support for ongoing international efforts to ensure the re-launching of 'serious and effective negotiations in the run-up for the achievement of the two-state solution'.

He pointed out that arrangements were being made for the Turkish President Abdullah Gul to visit Jordan in response to an invitation from King Abdullah.