Turkish president visits Syria

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer landed in Syria on Wednesday on a state visit which has stirred unease in the United States and drawn criticism from some political analysts who say it sends the wrong signal.

Syria, branded by Washington as a sponsor of international terrorism, is under heavy international pressure to pull all its troops and security forces from neighbouring Lebanon. It has pledged to do so by the end of this month.

Sezer has been careful in the run-up to the visit to stress the importance of Turkey-U.S. Ties -- already strained by the Iraq war and its aftermath -- and Turkish media said the president would deliver a strong message to his Syrian hosts.

Assad praises visit

Assad has publicly hailed Sezer's decision to go ahead with his trip as evidence that NATO member Turkey is ready to stand up to the United States on issues of national interest.

Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari said Sezer's "insistence on this visit" embodied Turkish support for "just causes".

Turkish nationalists insist Turkey must not be seen to bow to U.S. Pressure over Syria, but some Middle East experts have criticized Sezer's decision to visit Damascus. "(Sezer's trip) seems nothing but sailing in the open seas without a compass," wrote Cengiz Candar in the conservative daily Dunden Bugune Tercuman.

Unique position

Uniquely in the region, Turkey has strong security ties with Israel, Syria's mortal enemy, but under the Islamist-rooted government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has tried to build better ties with Arab countries and with Iran.

Turkey, Syria and Iran share the same concerns about the turmoil in Iraq and fear it could lead eventually to the creation of a Kurdish state in the north of the country. This, they say, would fan separatism among their own Kurdish populations, leading to regional instability.

Turkey, which has seen a big thaw in ties with Syria after years of tension, stayed relatively quiet as the United States and the European Union pressured Damascus to withdraw.

The U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, Eric Edelman, then publicly urged Turkey to join the "international consensus" on Syria, in comments interpreted by the Turkish media as a call to Sezer to cancel or postpone his visit to Damascus.

Sezer's trip reciprocates a state visit to Ankara by Assad last year.