Wednesday, 2 August 2006
Lebanon's Ambassador to Ankara, George Siam, has said that Turkish forces would be among the most acceptable of potential international peace-keeping forces to be sent to the border between Lebanon and Israel. In an interview with The New Anatolian newspaper, Siam said that Turkey had gained considerable experience on peace-keeping missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, and noted that as a nation, it had good relations with Israel, Syria, and Iran.
Siam also said in the interview that the disarming of Hizbollah was not a request which could be fulfilled by the international community, but one which had to be taken care of within Lebanon itself. Siam also said that the idea of a peace-keeping force supplied by NATO, rather than the United Nations (UN), would not be an attractive option for Lebanon. Siam ended his interview by saying that the real reason for Israel's attack on Lebanon was not the 3 kidnapped soldiers, but that it was to turn the Lebanese people against the Hizbollah forces by applying economic, military, and political pressures.
hurriyet.com.tr
03/08/2006
