Edelman: International community should be in full consensus of opinion under UN Resolution 1559

The thing that can be said about Syria is that the international community should be in full consensus of opinion under the UN resolution 1559,'' US Ambassador in Ankara Eric Edelman said on Monday.Edelman replied to the questions of reporters during his visit to Bursa Governor Oguz Kagan Koksal.When a journalist said, ''according to today's Turkish newspapers, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer would not postpone his visit to Syria despite the expectations of the United States about such a postponement. What do you think?'' Edelman said, ''the thing that can be said about Syria is that the international community should be in full consensus of opinion under the UN resolution 1559. Under this resolution, Syria should immediately withdraw its soldiers from Lebanon.''''US President George W. Bush, during his visit to Europe, saw that there was consensus of opinion on this issue. During his meetings with French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and Russian and Egyptian leaders, he saw that they were in consensus of opinion. We hope that Turkey would also take its place ininternational community. Of course, it is Turkey's own decision whether to comply with international society.''Asked how he evaluated the claims that there was anti-US tendency in Turkish press, Edelman said some of the news reports could be right and some of them could be wrong.''I think this should be mentioned when a news report is wrong. We know that there are several concerns in Turkey as there is US military presence in Iraq. We believe that there should be various discussions and dialogues. However, we also believe that these should have accurate basis. What creates uneasiness for us is that most of the time the news reports are based on conspiracy theories,'' he noted.Edelman stressed that a strong Turkey is important for both Europe and the United States, noting that, ''we also wish to have a long term friendship between Turkey and the United States.''Â