Summit with France Seen as Breakthrough

The pro-government website Al-Jamal has described this week’s four-nation summit in Damascus as the most important diplomatic event happening in the Middle East, and proof that Syria’s diplomatic efforts are working.



In an article published on September 2, Al-Jamal said the summit involving Syria, Turkey, France and Qatar would move the Israeli-Syrian peace talks forward and could lead to a greater role for Damascus in the Middle East.



Syrian president Bashar Assad, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, met in Damascus on September 4 and were expected to discuss the Syrian-Israeli peace process.



Sarkozy’s visit – the first by a western leader to Damascus in five years – drew extensive praise from pro-government media in Syria this week.



While some analysts have speculated that Damascus would use the meeting as an opportunity to get closer to the United States via France, Al-Jamal maintained the official hard-line stance against the US, asserting that the door was opening for France to take a role in the Syrian-Israeli talks, which would “break America’s monopoly on diplomacy for Middle East peace”.



The site hailed the summit as evidence of the success of Syrian diplomatic efforts – relations with Turkey and France have improved, while US diplomacy had suffered a “major blow” because the indirect peace talks did not have American approval.



Al-Jamal noted that the summit comes shortly after the Russian-Georgian conflict, which it argued had created a new international environment in which US dominance had been shaken.



Al-Jamal said improved relations with Turkey and France could allow Damascus to help resolve the dispute over Cyprus. Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem met Cypriot foreign minister Markos Kyprianou in Nicosia last week.