07/11/2009 Turkey is ready to oversee a new stage of indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria, resuming a role it had played until last year, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday.
 
"It's for the two sides to decide that. Turkey would like the talks to restart where they left off, or else within a framework decided upon by the parties," he told reporters during an official visit to Paris.
 
"We think that it will happen according to a calendar decided by the two sides," he said, sitting alongside his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.
 
Davutoglu personally took charge of five previous rounds of talks, acting as chairman of telephone conference calls between former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad.
 
The talks were stalled over "one or two words", Davutoglu said, refusing to go into detail over these obstacles.
 
The talks were suspended because of Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets in Gaza and since then, Olmert has been succeeded by his rival Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winger who is seen as more hardline.
 
"Turkey showed the whole world that it was sincere, honest and determined in its role as Middle East mediator. All the countries that seek peace are our strategic allies, including Israel of course," the minister said.
 
"As soon as the path to peace opens again I'm sure that relations between Turkey and Israel will return at the same good level."