Turkey on Monday started mediation attempt as it tries to ease the recently erupted tension between Iraq and Syria over insurgency bombings in Iraq.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu shuttled between Baghdad and Damascus on Monday. He however described Turkey's efforts to mend the Iraq-Syria relations not as mediation but rather as helping two brothers resolve differences.
Earlier in the day, Davutoglu met Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad, in addition to talks with Iraqi ministers with a hope to re-establish an atmosphere of mutual trust between Iraq and Syria.
Davutoglu assured his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari that he would deliver the documents and evidences on the recent attacks provided by Iraqi authorities to Syrian officials, according to reports by Turkey's official Anatolia news agency.
Zebari told Davutoglu that relations with Syria was not on the verge of breaking, adding that their position against Syria did not change.
"There are some individuals which the Iraqi government and courts demand Syria to extradite. This demand still stands. Also we want activities harming Iraq to be halted. We did not call back our ambassadors reciprocally. We just summoned them in order to consult them," said Zebari.
Relations between Iraq and Syria deteriorated after Baghdad alleged that Damascus is sheltering suspects linked to the massive bombings that targeted government ministries in Baghdad on Aug. 19.But Damascus said it wanted evidence from Baghdad.
The tension between the two countries escalated on Aug. 25 when they withdrew their respective ambassadors.
On Sunday, Iraqi security officials made fresh accusations about Syria's alleged role, showing journalists footage of what they said was a Saudi militant confessing he had attended a training camp in Syria.
When meeting with Davutoglu, the Iraqi Prime Minister demanded again for the United Nations to form a criminal court to prosecute those involved in the killing of Iraqis.
For his part, Davutoglu proposed the establishment of a tripartite mechanism between Turkey, Iraq and Syria in order to fight such kind of attacks.
After his talks in Iraq, Davutoglu flew to Syria in the day. Hemet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad together with his Syrian counterpart Walid Moallem in Damascus.
According to Anatolia's reports, Davutoglu sounded upbeat after his meeting with the Syrian president on reducing tensions between Damascus and Baghdad.
"We are very optimistic that this problem will be solved. We will do anything in our power to settle this problem," he was quoted as saying.
Syria has condemned the violence and has challenged Baghdad to provide evidence for its accusations. President Assad brushed aside Baghdad's accusations, saying stability in Iraq was in Syria's interests.
Last week, Iraq and Syria recalled their ambassadors from each other's capitals following Iraqi allegations of Syrian involvement in the two devastating bombings on in Baghdad, which killed about 100 people.
In addition to Turkey, Iran and France are also making mediation efforts with aims to ease the escalating tension.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki of Iran, a close ally of both countries, visited Iraq and Syria on Sunday in an attempt to mediate.
The French foreign ministry also urged the two sides to overcome the conflict as soon as possible.
"We hope that Syria and Iraq will quickly return their relations to normal and continue building closer ties as they had been doing in recent months," the ministry said on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2009)
