ANKARA, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States urged Turkey to join international calls for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, saying Ankara should define its place in a global consensus on thisissue, Turkish Daily News reported Tuesday.
"We hope Turkey will join in the international community," the paper quoted US Ambassador Eric Edelman as saying.
In an earlier statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry welcomed Syria's decision to pull out troops from Lebanon, but media critics said this was too weak a reaction, insisting Syria should end its military presence in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
Edelman said US President George W. Bush had reached agreements with France, Germany, Russia and Egypt that Syria should immediately withdraw from neighboring Lebanon.
One US official in Ankara said the time has come for Turkey to decide where it would stand. "Turkey needs to define its place," said the official.
"We certainly want Turkey, and all members of the international community, to fully support the international consensus contained in Resolution 1559 on Syria and Lebanon, but how Turkey chooses to express that, it's up to Turkey to decide," said the official.
Syria has been under mounting international pressure to pull outfrom Lebanon, where it started to deploy troops and intelligence forces in 1976 to intervene in Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Anti-Syrian emotions are running high in the tiny Mediterranean country following its former premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive bombing attack on Feb. 14, for which opposition blamed Damascus.
Syrian denied any involvement, but indicated it would implement the UN resolution to withdraw in two phases.
Turkish-Syrian ties were boosted when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Turkey in 2004 in a landmark trip that buried decades-old enmities.
A group of Turkish intellectuals and journalists visited Damascus recently to voice opposition to a possible armed conflict involving the United States and Syria. Enditem
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