Turkey's Prime Minister arrived in Damascus Saturday for talks with Syria's leader on rising prospects for Syrian-Israeli peace, the Associated Press reported. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was originally here to open a Syrian-Turkish business forum. But his visit has gained added significance with Syrian President Bashar Assad's announcement that he received an Israeli offer of a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty. Assad has said that Erdogan passed on the message that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is ready to return the Golan and that he's looking to discuss the details with Erdogan. The two were to meet later in the day. Turkey has close ties with both Israel and Syria as well as with the United States. Assad also said in an interview with the Qatari newspaper al-Watan published Thursday that Turkish mediation over the past year could lay the groundwork for direct talks with Israel. Erdogan did not mention the Golan issue before his departure, but he did say that Turkey was trying to get the leaders of Syria and Israel together, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. «In the first place, we are thinking of getting officials appointed from both sides together. If this yields positive results, efforts will begin to bring the leaders together,» Erdogan said. He said Turkey's mediation was part of wider efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. «I believe that our peace diplomacy will, God willing, make positive contributions to (peace) in Iraq, between Syria and Israel or between Israel and the Palestinians, » said Erdogan.
