Stormy Iraq-Syria Meeting in Istanbul; Syria Demands Regime Change

Sources familiar with the meeting between the foreign ministers of Iraq and Syria which was held in Istanbul early this month under the auspices of the Turkish foreign minister and the secretary general of the Arab league characterized the meeting as "stormy," since Syria turned down incontrovertible evidence of Syrian training and logistical support for the perpetrators of the massive bombings in Baghdad in August.

The biggest surprise of the meeting was the Syrians' response to the Iraqi offer to send back Iraq's ambassador to Damascus if Syria were to show sympathy for the Iraqi position. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'alem shot back that Syria would only send back its ambassador to Iraq under one condition – a change of regime in Baghdad.

[In an October 20 interview with Al-Hura TV in Washington, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki stressed that Syria was seeking to undermine the political process in Iraq with a view of changing the regime.]

Source: www.uragency.net/index.php?aa=news&id22=1938 of October 21, 2009

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