Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Damascus Wednesday on an official visit to Syria. Erdogan, who was accompanied by a delegation of businessmen, was met at Damascus Airport by Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji al-Otari and headed straight into talks with President Bashar Assad. Erdogan was to sign a free-trade agreement here as part of efforts to boost trade with Syria. The two-day meetings in Syria, the latest in a series of talks between the two neighbors, were also expected to focus on the situation in neighboring Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
