Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday insisted that coordination with Turkey was the key to relaunch peace talks with Israel, the official SANA news agency reported. Assad made the remark during his meeting with French presidential envoy Jean-Claude Cousseran, who conveyed a message from President Nicolas Sarkozy to the Syrian leader, the agency said.
Assad stressed "the importance of coordination with Turkey to build up on what has been achieved in (previous rounds of) indirect negotiations" between Syria and Israel that were brokered by Ankara, it quoted him as saying.
"Syria is permanently striving for a just and comprehensive peace" based on U.N. resolutions, al-Assad told Cousseran.
The Syria leader also voiced the "hope of seeing real progress in the peace process, even if Israel's policies do not inspire that," SANA said.
