Diplomatic Diary: Turkey's Erdogan visits Syria

29/04/2008

Turkey's prime minister confirms that his country will try to mediate between Syria and Israel. Also in diplomatic news this week: Albania and Denmark clinched a re-admission and visa facilitation agreement.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (right) meets with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus on Saturday (April 26th). [Getty Images]

Turkey's government launched a set of foreign policy initiatives to deal with the tension between Israel and Syria. During his visit to Damascus on Saturday (April 26th), Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Israel is ready to hand over the Golan Heights in return for a peace deal. Control of the land is considered one of the major disputes between both countries since Israel seized it in the 1967 war.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said the government plans to establish a Public Diplomacy Agency to handle public relations operations and campaigns related to Turkish foreign policy. Babacan added the agency would include a department to deal with Turkey's EU membership bid. Babacan was in Oman on Saturday (April 26th), where he met with counterpart Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah to discuss the possibility of boosting economic relations and parliamentary dialogue.

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Albania and Denmark clinched a re-admission and visa facilitation agreement on Thursday (April 24th). Signing the accord were Albanian Interior Minister Bujar Nishani and Danish Ambassador to Tirana Niels Severin Munk. Nishani said the agreements are in the framework of the general agreement sealed with the EU last year and provide for easing the visa regime for Albanians.

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A delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, led by UK representative Michael Clapham, visited Pristina on Wednesday (April 23rd). Clapham said the delegation would prepare a report on Kosovo for presentation at the next NATO meeting in May. "We are here to learn and to see the standpoint of President Fatmir Sejdiu on the future of Kosovo," Clapham said, adding that security in Kosovo is stable and is guaranteed by KFOR troops.

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Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic arrived in Russia on Tuesday (April 22nd) for a two-day working visit. Djukanovic and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed their common desire to boost political co-operation during a meeting Wednesday in Moscow.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj was in Berlin on Tuesday (April 22nd) to discuss police reform and the latest regional developments with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Alkalaj told Steinmeier that the recently adopted police reform would create a good base for collaboration for RS and FBiH police agencies and help establish an independent and efficient BiH police force.

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Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis arrived on Tuesday (April 29th) on a one-day working visit in Moscow, to meet with outgoing President Vladimir Putin and his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Karamanlis and Putin are expected to sign an agreement on Greece's participation in the South Stream pipeline project.

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Various sources - 22/04/08 - 29/04/08