Prime Minister Erdoğan is meeting Syrian President al-Assad and the Qatari emir Monday in Damascus to seek a solution to the crisis in Lebanon. Turkey has accelerated its diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis after the Lebanese government collapsed last week following a Hezbollah walk-out because it fears the instability could spread throughout an already-fragile region beset with problems stemming from the deadlock on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Iran's nuclear program and unrest in Tunisia
 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L) and his Lebanese counterpart, Saad al-Hariri. AP photo |
Turkey will hold a regional summit in Syria on Monday in an attempt to help keep Lebanon’s political crisis from spreading further as Ankara increasingly seeks to assume a leadership role in the region.
“We will exchange views with regional actors on what can be done and how we can all contribute to resolving the crisis,” a senior Foreign Ministry diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday on condition of anonymity. “Turkey is in constant touch with other countries in the region. There are several options. We are in favor of a broad-based government where all groups in Lebanon will be represented.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamas Bin Khalifah al-Thani in Damascus to discuss the latest developments in Lebanon, the diplomat said. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was in Baghdad on Sunday for his first official visit since the formation of a new government in Iraq last month, will also join the meeting, diplomatic sources said.
Turkey has accelerated diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis in Lebanon, where a national unity government collapsed last week after Hezbollah walked out in protest of a U.N. tribunal investigating the death of ex-Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The development has fanned fears that instability in the country could spread to an already fragile region beset with problems stemming from the deadlock of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Iran’s controversial nuclear program and the recent ouster of Tunisia’s president.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, met with Erdoğan and Davutoğlu in Ankara on Friday as part of efforts to rally international support following the collapse of his government. After his talks with the pro-Western al-Hariri, Erdoğan held a telephone conversation Saturday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, urging joint efforts to settle the crisis in Lebanon. The two called for a solution that sets aside political considerations and is free of foreign interference, according to Iranian news reports.
“There is a need for the parties to act with full responsibility and an understanding that keeps Lebanon’s common interests above any sort of [political] consideration,” Erdoğan said in recent remarks.
With Turkey calling on all parties to intensify efforts to resolve the crisis through democratic and participatory methods based on dialogue and consultations, diplomats see several options for a way out of the current turmoil in Lebanon. Referring to a French proposal to create an international contact group to negotiate a settlement, one diplomat told the Daily News: “This is not our proposal [but] we do not rule it out. It’s important who will be involved in this contact group. This is one of the ideas being discussed.”
France, Lebanon’s former colonial authority, has said the contact group would include Syria, Saudi Arabia, France, the United States, Qatar, Turkey and possibly other countries.
The crisis in Lebanon is the climax of long-simmering tensions over the U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of al-Hariri’s father, the former prime minister. The tribunal is widely expected to soon indict members of Hezbollah, a move many fear could rekindle violence in the tiny country plagued for decades by war and civil strife. Hezbollah has denounced the Netherlands-based panel as a conspiracy by the U.S. and Israel and demanded that al-Hariri reject the tribunal’s findings even before they come out. He has refused, however, to break his cooperation with the court and its investigations.
Turkey supports the U.N. tribunal and is making efforts to revive a joint initiative launched by Saudi Arabia and Syria that sought to find a compromise formula to ensure the indictment would not harm the national unity government in Lebanon.
Diplomatic sources previously told the Daily News the government has not talked to Hezbollah. “Not now. There are channels. We can always talk to them,” one said.
The Lebanese government collapsed Wednesday afternoon after 11 ministers from the 30-seat Cabinet – 10 from the Hezbollah-dominant March 8 Alliance and one close to President Michel Suleiman – declared their resignations. According to the Lebanese constitution, a government collapses when more than one-third of Cabinet ministers resign.
Formed in November 2009, the national unity government was comprised of 15 ministers from the majority March 14 Alliance, led by al-Hariri’s Movement of the Future, 10 ministers from the opposition March 8 Alliance and five close to the president, who was seen as a centrist party. Suleiman is set to begin consultations Monday with Lebanon’s 128 parliamentarians to nominate a new premier.
“We will exchange views with regional actors on what can be done and how we can all contribute to resolving the crisis,” a senior Foreign Ministry diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday on condition of anonymity. “Turkey is in constant touch with other countries in the region. There are several options. We are in favor of a broad-based government where all groups in Lebanon will be represented.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamas Bin Khalifah al-Thani in Damascus to discuss the latest developments in Lebanon, the diplomat said. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was in Baghdad on Sunday for his first official visit since the formation of a new government in Iraq last month, will also join the meeting, diplomatic sources said.
Turkey has accelerated diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis in Lebanon, where a national unity government collapsed last week after Hezbollah walked out in protest of a U.N. tribunal investigating the death of ex-Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The development has fanned fears that instability in the country could spread to an already fragile region beset with problems stemming from the deadlock of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Iran’s controversial nuclear program and the recent ouster of Tunisia’s president.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, met with Erdoğan and Davutoğlu in Ankara on Friday as part of efforts to rally international support following the collapse of his government. After his talks with the pro-Western al-Hariri, Erdoğan held a telephone conversation Saturday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, urging joint efforts to settle the crisis in Lebanon. The two called for a solution that sets aside political considerations and is free of foreign interference, according to Iranian news reports.
“There is a need for the parties to act with full responsibility and an understanding that keeps Lebanon’s common interests above any sort of [political] consideration,” Erdoğan said in recent remarks.
With Turkey calling on all parties to intensify efforts to resolve the crisis through democratic and participatory methods based on dialogue and consultations, diplomats see several options for a way out of the current turmoil in Lebanon. Referring to a French proposal to create an international contact group to negotiate a settlement, one diplomat told the Daily News: “This is not our proposal [but] we do not rule it out. It’s important who will be involved in this contact group. This is one of the ideas being discussed.”
France, Lebanon’s former colonial authority, has said the contact group would include Syria, Saudi Arabia, France, the United States, Qatar, Turkey and possibly other countries.
The crisis in Lebanon is the climax of long-simmering tensions over the U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of al-Hariri’s father, the former prime minister. The tribunal is widely expected to soon indict members of Hezbollah, a move many fear could rekindle violence in the tiny country plagued for decades by war and civil strife. Hezbollah has denounced the Netherlands-based panel as a conspiracy by the U.S. and Israel and demanded that al-Hariri reject the tribunal’s findings even before they come out. He has refused, however, to break his cooperation with the court and its investigations.
Turkey supports the U.N. tribunal and is making efforts to revive a joint initiative launched by Saudi Arabia and Syria that sought to find a compromise formula to ensure the indictment would not harm the national unity government in Lebanon.
Diplomatic sources previously told the Daily News the government has not talked to Hezbollah. “Not now. There are channels. We can always talk to them,” one said.
The Lebanese government collapsed Wednesday afternoon after 11 ministers from the 30-seat Cabinet – 10 from the Hezbollah-dominant March 8 Alliance and one close to President Michel Suleiman – declared their resignations. According to the Lebanese constitution, a government collapses when more than one-third of Cabinet ministers resign.
Formed in November 2009, the national unity government was comprised of 15 ministers from the majority March 14 Alliance, led by al-Hariri’s Movement of the Future, 10 ministers from the opposition March 8 Alliance and five close to the president, who was seen as a centrist party. Suleiman is set to begin consultations Monday with Lebanon’s 128 parliamentarians to nominate a new premier.
No comments:
Post a Comment