PM Erdogan urges calm, compromise in Lebanon

Working to help end the recent political tension between Lebanon's government and opposition parties, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday telephoned Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nebih Berri and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to urge restraint and compromise. Erdogan's talks focused on possible ways to end the tension. The political crisis exploded into violence on Wednesday when supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition blocked roads in Beirut to enforce a strike called by labor unions protesting the government's economic policies and demanding pay raises. The strike escalated into street confrontations between supporters of the rival camps. About a dozen people were injured. On Thursday, the violence spread outside the capital. The Turkish premier on Wednesday also telephoned his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on the issue. Erdogan is expected to continue his efforts to ease the tension in Lebanon.