By Nevine Khalil Following an exercise in shuttle diplomacy between Ankara and Damascus by President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa visited the two capitals on Monday to defuse the stand-off. Damascus, which had promised Mubarak a response to his initiative within days, then sent Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa to Cairo on Saturday. During a brief meeting with Mubarak, Al-Sharaa delivered a message from Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad. Later in the day, Mubarak spoke to his Turkish counterpart Suleyman Demirel. Moussa said that the Mubarak-Al-Sharaa talks aimed to "defuse tensions, because the overall strategic outlook requires [strong] Arab ties with Turkey." Relations between Syria and Turkey, traditionally strained, deteriorated sharply two weeks ago when Turkey began massing some 10,000 troops on the Turkish-Syrian border in response to alleged Syrian support for separatist Kurdish guerrillas. Syria denies allegations that it backs Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels fighting for self-rule in southeast Turkey. At the same time, tensions were fuelled by Syria's concerns over growing military cooperation between Ankara and Tel Aviv. Syria, like most Arab countries, feels directly threatened by the Turkish-Israeli military pact. It also complains that large-scale Turkish dam projects will obstruct its Euphrates water supplies. In addition, Damascus maintains a territorial claim on the Turkish province of Hatay. Apparently, Damascus has left the stand-off for Egypt to resolve. "Our brothers in Egypt are the ones in charge of conveying our viewpoint to the Turks," Al-Sharaa told reporters. "We trust they will convey our viewpoint honestly and accurately." Al-Sharaa affirmed Syria's "sincere wish" for a diplomatic solution that will give priority to security issues. He refused to go into details about Turkey's complaints regarding Damascus' support for PKK guerrillas. He noted, however, that Turkey's "apprehensions are baseless." Last week, Turkish sources said that a prerequisite for dialogue was for Damascus to hand over Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, but "we will be satisfied if Ocalan surfaces in a third country other than Syria or Lebanon." This week, unconfirmed Turkish press reports claimed that Ocalan has since been deported from Syria to Armenia via Iraq. Al-Sharaa blamed the crisis on "[Turkey's] domestic problems, an Israeli connection as well as some officials who don't want healthy relations between the two neighbouring states." The possibility of a military conflict between Turkey's armed forces, the second largest in NATO, and Syria has alarmed Arab capitals which fear any conflict might spill over into the rest of region. The Arab League described Turkish troop deployment along the Syrian border as a "clear threat to peace and security in the region," and urged Ankara to enter into a "serious dialogue" with Damascus. Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, Lebanon and Jordan urged a peaceful solution. Iran asked Turkey to exercise "self-restraint" and pledged "steadfast" support for Syria. Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi warned Turkey that "any aggression against Syria is an aggression against Libya, according to the joint Arab defence pact." He also threatened to invite Greece, Turkey's arch-enemy, to step into the shoes of dozens of Turkish companies doing business with Libya.
