FM urges Baghdad to take a milder stance

Aiming to defuse tensions between Iraq and Syria triggered by Iraqi claims that Damascus was sheltering insurgents, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held talks with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad on Monday.

"We will try to re-establish an atmosphere of trust between the two sides," Davutoğlu was quoted by AFP as telling reporters at Esenboğa Airport in the Turkish capital of Ankara before his departure. "If there is trust and goodwill between them, it will be easier to overcome a crisis such as this," he added.

Davutoğlu’s first meeting was with Zebari. The two foreign ministers discussed the tension that had risen between Iraq and Syria after Baghdad alleged that Damascus was harboring leaders behind one of two devastating truck bombings that killed 95 people and wounded about 600 in the Iraqi capital on Aug. 19. The Turkish foreign minister then met with al-Maliki.

Davutoğlu offered his condolences to the people of Iraq to al-Maliki and informed him that he had visited the Iraqis injured in the events in the hospital where they are receiving treatment in Ankara. Condemning the bombings, Davutoğlu said the attacks were made to the Iraqi state and that these targeted the stability of Iraq.

The Turkish foreign minister said he was happy that the relations between Iraq and Syria had developed but that the attacks had impaired these good relations. He added that these events needed to be evaluated correctly in order to end the tensions between Iraq and Syria. He said that for a resolution, Iraq’s attitude to Syria should become milder. He asked the Iraqi authorities to provide him with the information and documents they wanted Davutoğlu to convey to the Syrian side. He offered to establish a three-way mechanism between Syria, Iraq and Turkey in order to help Syria deal with those that organize the attacks in Iraq.

According to diplomatic sources, al-Maliki held Syria responsible for the attacks and said: “What we ask from Syria is to send the support it gives to the Baas Party in Iraq. The camps where the people organizing these terrorist attacks are trained are in Syria. We asked Syria to return to us those targeting the Iraqi people but Syria sent us only common criminals,” he said.

Following his meeting with al-Maliki, Davutoğlu also met with Talabani before leaving for Damascus.

Relations between Iraq and Syria deteriorated after Baghdad alleged that Damascus was harboring leaders behind one of two devastating truck bombings that killed 95 people and wounded about 600 in the Iraqi capital on August 19.

Turkey, a NATO member and a candidate for EU membership, has in recent years focused on boosting its political and economic cooperation with Middle Eastern countries and sought to set itself up as a broker in regional conflicts.