Quadrilateral meeting in Istanbul to ease Syria-Iraq tensions

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Senior officials from Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Arab League (AL) will convene in Istanbul Thursday to establish a dialogue between Syria and Iraq, Anatolia news agency reported. Turkish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday (Sept. 16) that foreign ministers of Turkey, Iraq and Syria as well as AL Secretary General Amr Moussa are expected to meet in Istanbul on Thursday (Sept. 17). The meeting will be held within the scope of ongoing talks to set up a dialogue between Syria and Iraq. Relations between Iraq and Syria deteriorated after Baghdad alleged that Damascus is sheltering suspects linked to massive bombings, targeting government ministries in Baghdad on Aug. 19, while Damascus said it wanted evidence from Baghdad. The tension between two countries escalated on Aug. 25 when they withdrew their respective ambassadors. On Sept. 9, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said following a quadrilateral meeting of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and AL in Cairo that he reached an agreement with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari to stop media campaigns and speedup returning ambassadors. SH (S) 1