Iraqi, Syrian officials meet in Turkey to discuss tensions

September 16, 2009

Officials from Iraq and Syria met Tuesday to discuss tensions stemming from Iraqi accusations that militants based in Syria are responsible for bomb attacks in Baghdad, Turkish and Iraqi officials said. The meeting in Ankara focused “on intelligence issues on a technical level,” a Turkish government official told AFP on the condition of anonymity, adding that the talks were meant to prepare the ground for higher-level discussions between the two sides planned for Thursday in Istanbul.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem will represent their respective countries during the Thursday meeting. Zebari was already scheduled to be in Istanbul on Thursday for separate talks between Iraq and Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who earlier this month traveled to Baghdad and Damascus as Ankara attempted to mediate in the dispute, will also attend the talks, sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iraqi delegation would present evidence backing allegations that terrorist groups based in Syria orchestrated deadly bombings in Baghdad.

“The evidence includes confessions, communications, financing and logistic support by people living in Syria and who have relations with Al-Qaeda,” he said in Baghdad on Monday.

Dabbagh was referring to the August 19 truck bombings, dubbed “Bloody Wednesday,” that killed 95 people and wounded 600 at the Finance and Foreign ministries in the Iraqi capital.

Turkey has been acting as a peace broker in the crisis sparked by Iraq and Syria’s tit-for-tat recall of envoys last month, six days after the attacks in Baghdad.

The row was triggered by Baghdad alleging that Syria was harboring two Baathist leaders who plotted the Finance Ministry bombing.

The flare-up threw into disarray extensive efforts in the past year to boost ties between the countries, which had been weak under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his Baathist rule but had recently been improving.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has alleged that 90 percent of foreign terrorists who infiltrate Iraq do so via Syria.

Maliki has formally asked the United Nations Security Council to launch an inquiry into the bombs, which triggered a diplomatic feud between Iraq and Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has dismissed allegations that his country shelters militants suspected of involvement in the August 19 attacks as “immoral” and politically motivated.

Assad is also to travel to Ankara on Wednesday.

Turkey, which in recent years has deepened ties with neighbors Iraq and Syria, is worried the feud could destabilize the region, in particular as Ankara seeks a solution to its decades-long conflict with rebels in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast.

Turkey needs cooperation from Iraq and Syria to fight Kurdistan Workers’ Party guerrillas who are based along their borders.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/Sep/16/Iraqi-Syrian-officials-meet-in-Turkey-to-discuss-tensions.ashx.