The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jan 4 2007
Erdogan suggests mediation in Lebanon crisis
The New Anatolian with agencies
04 January 2007
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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed Turkey’s readiness to
mediate to solve Lebanon’s ongoing political crisis, during a one-day
visit to Beirut on Wednesday.
"If the political parties want us to mediate, we are ready to do
that," Erdogan told reporters after meeting his Lebanese counterpart
Fouad Saniora.
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 had 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’s visit is primarily aimed at expressing support for
Saniora’s Cabinet, a Lebanese government official said.
The Turkish premier, following his meeting with Saniora underlined
importance of dialogue among the parties. "Our priority is to
preserve the political unity in Lebanon and the internal security …
this can be achieved through national dialogue," he said.
For his part, Saniora said that his talks with the Turkish premier
touched on last month’s unsuccessful bid by Moussa to broker a
resolution to Lebanon’s current political deadlock.
"We also discussed the current good efforts Turkey is carrying out to
solve Lebanon’s ongoing crisis," Saniora said.
Erdogan last month visited Iran and Syria, the two main allies of
Lebanon’s Hezbollah-led opposition. A Lebanese government source said
that Erdogan sought to help Lebanon out of its political deadlock.
The Turkish premier, following his meetings in Beirut visited Turkish
troops serving with the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.
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.
Ahead of Erdogan’s arrival, about 100 Armenian citizens, waving
Lebanese flags, gathered outside the Beirut airport to protest his
visit.
"No to Turkish mediation in Lebanon," read some of the placards
carried by the protesters. Other leaflets condemned Turkey over
alleged brutalities against Armenians by Turkish troops in the region
nearly a century ago.
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 accuse Turkey’s Ottoman
rulers of 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 with both Israel and Arab states.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress