Visiting Turkish PM hails Syria ties

Erdogan said Turkey was working on expanding its relations with other Arab states, including Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed Turkey's fast expanding relations with Syria as model for its ties with other Arab countries during a visit to Damascus on Wednesday.

- We are in the process of building with Syria a sound structure for the Middle East -- we need to create a foundation for peace in the region - Erdogan said in a speech to the two countries' businessmen broadcast by Syrian state television.

- We are living through historic times. We are going to overcome all the obstacles and form with Syria a model for cooperation to be copied elsewhere. -

Erdogan said Turkey was working on expanding its relations with other Arab states, including Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

He said he hoped bilateral trade between Turkey and Syria would rise from two billion dollars a year now to five billion dollars over the next three to four years.

The improvement in relations between Ankara and Damascus over the past decade has been remarkable.

Ties were long dogged by Turkish accusations of Syrian support for the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, as well as disputes over sharing the waters of the Euphrates river and Syria's historical claims to the Hatay region which colonial power France ceded to Turkey in 1938.