Syrian President Bashar Assad
of Syria
met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday at the airport in the Aegean resort of Bodrum, ahead of talks between the two leaders.
The local media reported that the two are meeting in order to discuss negotiations between Syria and Israel to be mediated by Turkey. The fourth round of indirect peace talks ended last week with a fifth round due in the middle of August.
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Turkey is interested in progressing with the talks and the present delay is most likely a byproduct of Washington’s refusal to allow the presence of a representative, as desired by the Syrians.
The discussions will be renewed despite Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s
announcement that he will not run in the Kadima party primaries.
The announced resignation of his chief of staff, Yoram Turbowicz, will also not affect the talks. Turbowicz is expected to participate in the fifth rounds in Turkey.
Jerusalem is remaining mum on any progress achieved in the tentative negotiations. However, senior Israeli sources have voiced their satisfaction with the process. Despite Olmert's explicit desire to progress into direct negotiations, Damascus has thus far refused to do so.
Diplomatic officials in Jerusalem told Ynet that no significant progress is to be expected in the new round of talks.
This, they say, is due to Olmert's political weakness. Assad's recent visit to Tehran and his meetings with numerous Iranian leaders has also dampened Jerusalem's optimism.
"Damascus is still lingering between the axis of evil and the West," said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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