Naharnet Newsdesk - Assad Rejects Erdogan's Mediation to Hold Saudi-Syrian-Turkish-Lebanese Summit

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Assad Rejects Erdogan's Mediation to Hold Saudi-Syrian-Turkish-Lebanese Summit
Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Saudi Arabia Wednesday unexpectedly to attend the official opening of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology despite a previous announcement that the Syrian Ambassador in Riyadh will represent his country in this event.
On the other hand, Assad has rejected mediation by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to solve the Lebanese cabinet crisis, Arab diplomatic sources told As Safir daily.

The sources said Erdogan suggested to Assad that he participates on Wednesday in the opening of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) about 80 kilometers north of the commercial center of Jeddah.

The Turkish proposal included holding a Saudi-Syrian-Turkish-Lebanese summit on the sidelines of the university's launching. Other country representatives, particularly Lebanese PM-designate Saad Hariri would join the meeting, according to Erdogan.

However, the sources told As Safir that the Turkish plan didn't succeed for several reasons, including the Syrian leadership's persuasion that it has accepted several Saudi invitations before and was waiting for a visit by Saudi King Abdullah to Damascus.

The sources added that Syria was keen on not regressing in its relations with Riyadh, while at the same time Damascus stressed that its doors were open to any Lebanese personality.

Although Syrian and Lebanese sources rejected to comment on the Turkish proposal, Hariri circles were highly confident before the PM-designate's decision to bow out from forming the government that a Lebanese-Saudi-Syrian summit would be held on the sidelines of KAUST's launching.

The circles believed that the meeting "would give new dynamics to Saudi-Syrian relations which would reflect positively on the track of cabinet formation."

As Safir said that President Michel Suleiman had expressed willingness to participate in the university's opening. However, he later changed his mind and decided to skip the Riyadh stopover and headed to New York where he will attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting.

Beirut, 23 Sep 09, 08:54


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