Turkey, Syria Boost Ties (Regional-Report: Syria-Turkey‪)‬

Turkey and Syria boosted their ties on Oct. 14 at the first meeting of a newly formed cooperation council, only days after Ankara's relations with Israel took a downturn, the Beirut-based leftist daily AS SAFIR and others reported the following day. The ministers of foreign affairs, defense, interior, economy, oil, electricity, agriculture and health of the two countries attended the strategic talks in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the newspaper said. Their agenda called for a series of meetings between respective ministers in their fields and the signing of diplomatic and economic agreements. The foreign ministers signed a deal on scrapping visa requirements for each other's nationals, it added. "The talks paved the way for later signing some 60 agreements, cooperation protocols and memoranda of understanding," AS SAFIR said in an Aleppo-datelined report. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem's Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu said in a joint press conference that they would like to see cooperation between their countries become an example for countries in the region. "They urged willing countries to join them," the newspaper said. The meetings came after Syria and Turkey signed an agreement in Istanbul on Sept. 16 to establish the Syria-Turkish High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council as part of efforts to forge closer links. Under the accord, the council will meet once a year, it added.