SYRIA: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki meets Syrian counterpart Walid Al-Moallem for talks in Damascus/ Al-Moallem speaks up about PKK crisis with Turkey

Activity by PKK rebels and Turkey's threat to respond militarily could destabilise the whole Middle East region, says Syrian FM Walid Al-Moallem. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met his Syrian counterpart Walid Al-Moallem in Damascus on Monday (October 29) to discuss the alliance between the two countries and the latest developments in the Middle East. Mottaki had met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier in the day. Lebanon's presidential elections and the PKK crisis with Turkey were both high on the agenda. Speaking at a joint news conference with Mottaki at the Syrian Foreign Office, the Syrian foreign minister said that PKK activities and the threat of military action threaten the whole region. "The terrorism caused by PKK threatens not only Turkey but also Syria and Iran and that's why we want the diplomatic efforts to succeed in a way that protects Turkey as well as the security of Iraq and its stability," Al-Moallem said. Turkish helicopter gunships went into action against rebel Kurds in eastern Turkey on Monday while the government flexed its military muscle with massive national day parades and fly pasts in major cities. Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery, warplanes and combat helicopters, along the Iraqi border in readiness for a possible large-scale incursion to crush some 3,000 guerrillas who use the region as a base. Mottaki's meetings in Damasucus come ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) plans to publish a report on the progress of Iran's nuclear programme in November. The IAEA has also been seeking explanations from Damascus, a key ally of Tehran, about its involvement with the country's nuclear activities. Citing satellite images, a Washington-based atomic research institute said that in September Israel appeared to have bombed a facility in northern Syria resembling a North Korean gas graphite nuclear reactor. The Syrians razed the site after the raid, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said. Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA chief, who has been seeking explanations from Damascus about the site, said he did not have any details of Syria's activities. He is also reported to have said that Israel's attack on the site had complicated the situation. "You remember that they started to say that the raid's goal is to attack arms transferred to Hezbollah, then they said that it is a missiles base. Later they announced that it is a nuclear installation. They did not know what to say about this raid. Now this condemnation from Mr. ElBaradei ensures that all those rumours are not true," said Al-Moallem. Mottaki's visit to Syria is the first since the Iranian president met his counterpart in June 2007 to hold diplomatic talks.

ITN Source | October 30, 2007

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