Jeffrey: "If both sides agree, the US will back Turkey mediating Syrian-Israeli peace talks"

Visiting the central Anatolian province of Konya yesterday, US Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey met with Governor Nezih Dogan. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Jeffrey said that the US welcomes a possible restarting of Syrian-Israeli peace talks under Turkish mediation. "If both sides agree on a mediator, we will support it," he said, when asked about Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's recent remarks seeming to rule out such a Turkish role. "The US will especially welcome Turkey as a mediator. Until a year ago, Turkey played an extremely important and successful role in indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel." Asked about the rising controversy over Iran's nuclear program, Jeffrey expressed hope that this crisis will come to an end as soon as possible. Praising both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for their active promotion of a peaceful solution to the issue, Jeffrey said, "This is a serious problem for the whole world. If international efforts to solve this problem through diplomacy fail, it will be brought to the UN Security Council." In related news, Israeli lawmakers criticized Lieberman for bluntly rejecting Turkey as a mediator in any future peace talks with Syria, saying he is harming Israel's interests. Turkish-mediated indirect talks between Syria and Israel collapsed following Israel's operation in Gaza which ended early this year, leaving 1,400 Palestinians dead.