SYRIA READY TO PROMOTE THE NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
17.06.2009 18:00

"Syria is a second Motherland for Armenians," the late President
of Syria, Hafes Al-Assad said during his trip to Soviet Armenia 30
years ago.

The new President of Syria, Bashar Al-Assad, confirmed his father’s
words in 30 years.

Bashar Al-Assad has arrived in Armenia today on an official visit
at the invitation of the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan. The
Presidents of the two countries had a face-to-face meeting, followed
by consultations in an extended format.

Henceforth Armenia and Syria will cooperate more closely, especially
within international organizations, the two Presidents said at a
joint press conference today.

"In an atmosphere of sincere and full understanding we discussed issues
related to bilateral cooperation, as well as a number of regional
and international questions," Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said.

Turning to the recent developments in the Armenian-Turkish relations,
the President of Syria said Syria had very close relations with Turkey
and was ready to enhance the progressing of the Armenian-Turkish ties.

Bashar Al-Assad informed that he had asked his Armenian counterpart
to present the latest developments in the settlement of the Karabakh
issue.

"This issue is a very complex one, but taking into consideration our
experience in=2 0the Middle East, we would not like it to get more
complicated," the Syrian President stated. The latter was interested
in learning the position of Armenia on the issue before his visit to
Azerbaijan next month.

The high-level talks between Armenia and Syria will continue. Bashar
Assad today personally invited Serzh Sargsyan to pay an official
visit to Syria.

"I’d like to note that firm bases exist for cooperation in different
spheres, and during our future meetings we must be able to move
forward better and faster," he said.

A number of documents were signed today to promote the warming
of Armenian-Syrian relations. President Assad noted that
it was necessary to take serious steps to raise the level of
trade-economic relations. In this regard, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan noted: "Despite the existing problems, we have assumed to
make efforts to solve the pivotal issues to promote the bilateral
cooperation. Tomorrow’s Armenian-Syrian economic forum will be of great
importance in this sense. We have reached agreements on cooperation
in the field of transport communication."