ISTANBUL: Leaders of Asian nations, among them Iran, Syria and the Palestinians, were to gather for security talks here Monday amid simmering regional tensions over a deadly Israeli raid on Gaza aid ships.
Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan as well as Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were scheduled to attend Tuesday’s summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
Turkey, in deep crisis with once-close ally Israel after a bloody raid last week on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, was likely to use the meeting as a venue to seek a fresh condemnation of the operation, in which nine Turks were killed.
Abbas, in Istanbul on his way to Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama, was to meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul Monday to personally convey hid condolences for the Turks killed in the raid.
Gul was to hold bilateral talks also with Assad and Ahmadinejad later in the day.
Another event on the fringes of the gathering included three-way talks between the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, held as part of a Turkish push since 2007 to help the two troubled neighbors overcome their differences and cooperate against Islamist extremists.
Zalmai Rassoul of Afghanistan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi of Pakistan and Ahmet Davutoglu met behind closed doors Monday.
Tuesday’s summit will focus on issues such as nuclear disarmament, peaceful use of nuclear energy and ways to boost confidence-building measures in Asia, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Israel has been invited to the summit, but only its ambassador to Turkey was likely to participate, a Turkish foreign ministry official said Monday.
CICA was set up in 2002 on a proposal by Kazakhstan with the aim of promoting peace, security and stability in Asia and boosting confidence-building measures among member states.
The group currently has 20 members, some of them countries with a history of hostility, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt.
Turkey, a NATO member vying for European Union membership, has in recent years pushed for greater regional influence.
But its improving ties with Iran and Syria, as well as deteriorating relations with Israel, has led to concerns that the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara is shifting the country away from the West.
