Turkish prime minister warns sectarian tensions in Lebanon will affect region

International Herald Tribune, France
Jan 3 2007

Associated Press

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Turkey’s prime minister warned that growing
sectarian tensions in Lebanon will affect the entire Middle East
if left unchecked and offered to mediate in the political crisis if
asked by rival factions.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived here on a one-day
visit for talks with feuding Lebanese leaders on the country’s
deepening political crisis.

Shortly after his arrival, Erdogan met with Lebanese premier Fuad
Saniora whose Western-backed government is facing increasing pressure
in the form of street protests led by Hezbollah and other opposition
groups.

"I told Saniora that sectarian differences will leave repercussions
on the region," Erdogan told reporters.

"I also told him that all parties in Lebanon and all states in the
region must act to solve this problem," Erdogan said, stressing that
a solution to the Lebanese crisis should be reached through dialogue.

Erdogan’s visit came as the growing political and sectarian tensions
among Lebanese factions threaten to tear the country apart. It also
came more than a week after Arab League chief Amr Moussa said that
his efforts have failed to reach a solution to the crisis.

Tensions between pro- and anti-Syrian groups erupted when six
pro-Hezbollah Cabinet ministers resigned in November after Saniora
rejected their demand for a new national unity government that would
give Hezbollah and its allies a veto power on key Cabinet decisions.

Erdogan met Saniora who has been living at his office complex in
central Beirut amid a tight security cordon near the thousands of
Hezbollah supporters and allies camping nearby.

Erdogan, speaking in Turkish, said Turkey was not mediating in the
Lebanese crisis but was ready to do so if asked to help by feuding
parties.

Saniora said because of its close ties with the Arab world, Turkey
can play "an important role" in promoting a solution to the Lebanese
crisis.

"We stressed on stability in Lebanon and its impact on the region,"
he said.

Before meeting with Lebanon’s president and Parliament Speaker Nabih
Berri, a Hezbollah ally, Erdogan flew by a Turkish military helicopter
to southern Lebanon where he inspected Turkish troops serving with the
U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL. He reviewed an honor guard,
thanked troops for their service and had lunch with military officers.

Some 260 Turkish troops, deployed near the southern port city of Tyre,
are helping rebuild bridges and roads damaged in last summer’s war
between Hezbollah and Israel. Turkish officials said that the total
number of Turkish personnel in Lebanon would ultimately reach 681,
including sailors and engineers.

Erdogan also said he will meet later Wednesday with legislator Mohammed
Raad, head of Hezbollah’s 11-member parliamentary bloc.

While Erdogan was meeting Saniora, thousands of Armenians, raising
Lebanese and Armenian flags, gathered in the streets north of Beirut
shouting slogans against the Turkish premier’s visit, witnesses said.
All shops in the Armenian neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud north of
Beirut closed for a couple of hours.

"Turkey, Israel’s strategic ally, cannot keep peace in Lebanon," read
a placard by the protesters. The protesters dispersed peacefully but
the demonstration caused a traffic jam on Beirut’s northern highway.

Ahead of Erdogan’s arrival, about 100 Armenian citizens, waving
Lebanese flags, also gathered outside the Beirut airport to protest
his visit.

In October, thousands from Lebanon’s 80,000-100,000 strong Armenian
community rallied in downtown Beirut to protest Turkish participation
in the U.N. peacekeeping force because they blame Turkey’s Ottoman
rulers for the mass killing of Armenians in the early 20th century.

Turkey, a U.S. ally and NATO’s only predominantly Muslim member,
has close ties to both Israel and Arab states.