Turkey encouraged Syria on Wednesday to think of ways to revive the stalled peace talks with Israel, but Syria's foreign minister said Israel does not appear to be a partner in the process, AP reported. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem's remarks came after Syrian President Bashar Assad sat down with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul to consider how to restart the talks. «On the peace issue, we don't think Israel is present as a partner,» al-Moallem said through an Arabic interpreter. He accused Israel of maintaining construction of Israeli settlements and continuing its aggression against Gaza. Neither Assad or Erdogan made any statement after their talks. Turkey, which mediated indirect Syrian-Israeli talks last year, has offered to help restart the peace negotiations after they broke off in March when a more hardline Israeli government came to power. -- SPA
