Last update - 00:00 06/11/2007
Peres, Abbas to address Turkish parliament in Ankara next week
By The Associated Press
President Shimon Peres will address Turkey's parliament next week - the first time an Israeli president will speak before the legislature of a Muslim country.
Turkey, a member of NATO and Israel's closest ally in the Islamic world, has in the past played the role of mediator between Israel and its Muslim neighbors.
Peres said Tuesday he would address the Turkish parliament in Ankara along with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"Turkey can play a first-tier role in the peace process," Peres said, adding that the country's moderate and democratic nature serves as a counterweight to the extremist Islam embodied by Iran.
"If the Turkish way will win, all of us will win, Muslims and Jews, Arabs and Israelis," Peres said, speaking at a Jerusalem press conference alongside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Peres and Abbas will address parliament in Ankara on Nov. 12, said Ayelet Frisch, a spokeswoman for Peres.
Olmert called Peres' visit to Turkey extraordinary.
"This is the first time the Israeli president has been invited to speak in a Muslim parliament, in a Muslim country," Olmert said.
The joint visit comes just weeks before Israelis and Palestinians are set to sit down at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. The conference is scheduled to take place in the last week of November, Olmert said Tuesday.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Abbas, said the visit was part of the Palestinian relationship with friendly countries, to coordinate positions and gain support, particularly before the Annapolis conference.
In September, Turkey demanded an apology from Israel after it said Israeli jets crossed into Turkish airspace and jettisoned fuel tanks during a raid on a military target in Syria. Israel hasn't officially confirmed the raid, but Olmert offered an ambiguous apology last week, saying that if Israeli planes indeed penetrated Turkish airspace,
then Israel regretted any harm that might have been caused.
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