Turkish PM urges dialogue to end Lebanon crisis

Middle East Online, UK
Jan 3 2007

Erdogan encourages peaceful resolution of political crisis through
dialogue among Lebanese.

BEIRUT – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Wednesday
for dialogue amongst Lebanese, during a day trip to Beirut to meet
Lebanese leaders and Turkish UN peacekeeping troops.

Coming out of a meeting with Lebanese counterpart Fuad Siniora, Erdogan
encouraged a peaceful resolution of a political crisis triggered in
November with the walkout of six pro-Syrians from Siniora’s cabinet.

"We favour domestic peace and political unity amongst Lebanese,
and we believe that dialogue is the only way to resolve the crisis,"
Erdogan told reporters.

Asked if Turkey might mediate between the government and its
Hezbollah-led opposition, Erdogan replied that it was "ready to play
such a role if all sides ask for it to do so".

"I told Mr Siniora that all countries in the region should act to
help resolve the crisis," he added without elaborating.

Besides the prime minister, Erdogan was to see President Emile Lahoud,
parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri and parliamentary majority leader
Saad Hariri during his day-long stay.

Hariri is the son of former prime minister Rafic Hariri, whose
assassination in a Beirut bomb attack in February 2005 is the subject
of an ongoing United Nations investigation that has implicated senior
officials from Syria as well as Lebanese accomplices.

Erdogan said that he also intended to see Mohammed Raad, the leader
of Hezbollah’s parliamentary group.

Later Wednesday, Erdogan hopped onto a military helicopter for a short
flight south to Smaia, near Tyre, 80 kilometres (45 miles) from Beirut,
where the headquarters of the Turkish UN contingent is situated.

Turkey assigned 261 soldiers to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) in October, helping to enforce a ceasefire that halted last
year’s devastating month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, a Shiite political movement that enjoys Syrian and Iranian
support, has been leading a sit-in protest in central Beirut since
December 1 calling for Siniora to make way for a government of
national unity.

In a statement, the Turkish prime minister’s office said that during
his stay, Erdogan would be underlining Turkey’s contribution to
UNIFIL and the help it could give to Lebanon after last year’s
Israel-Hezbollah war.

Some 100 Lebanese of Armenian heritage were seen demonstrating
Wednesday morning near Beirut airport against Erdogan’s visit. Turkey
refuses to recognize the mass killings of Armenians from 1915 and
1917 as genocide.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress