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Friday October 9, 1998

Israel trying to keep low profile amid the Turkey-Syria dispute

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- The Israel Defense Force is reducing some routine activities along the Syrian border to make it clear that Is
Israel Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai acted as Turkey was reportedly massing troops and armored vehicles along its border wi

Syria denies helping the Kurdistan Workers Party rebels. In a government statement Saturday, Syria confirmed "its keenness for good neighborly relations with Turkey" and its readiness to solve every issue through "diplomatic ways, in an atmosphere of trust."

Syria and Turkey, which share a 544-mile border, are also at odds over water-sharing and Turkey's growing military ties with Israel.

Mordechai issued a statement saying that Israel is not interested in any conflict with Syria. "To the contrary, we are looking to restore talks with the Syrians," Mordechai's spokesman, Avi Benayahu, said Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak decided to visit Syria and Turkey to help ease the tensions.

"The Middle East cannot handle any more disputes...Egypt will do all it can to contain this situation as Turkey, before anything else, is a Middle Eastern country and Syria is brotherly nation," Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said.

Turkish Defense Minister Izmet Sezgin last Friday ruled out military action against Syria, saying disputes could be solved diplomatically. But Gen. Huseyin Kivriloglu, the Turkish Chief of Staff, was quoted as saying: "There is a state of undeclared war between us and Syria."

Turkey had never before conducted war games along the Syrian border. But in a show of force, Turkish jets buzzed along the Syrian border last Friday. Turkish units also sealed the escape routes of the rebels along the Syrian-Iraqi border inside northern Iraq.

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