Background:

The recordings with Turkish Ambassador Yassir Yatis provide an overview of Turkish relations with countries in the region. The main topic of his speech and of his answers to journalists’ questions concern Turkey’s relations with the states of Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Greece.

For more information, please refer to the tape Farewell Press Conference by the Turkish Ambassador to Egypt II: 

http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/farewell-press-conference-turkish-amba...

Side A: 

The Turkish Ambassador, Yassir Yatis, has been posted from Cairo, Egypt to Vienna, Austria. In a question and answer session, the ambassador addresses: the situation in Iraq including the role of the UN, Turkey, the US and Egypt in this matter; a commercial deal of wheat between Egyptian and Turkish companies; Turkish-Israeli (defence) cooperation and its legitimacy; the protocol easing recent Syrian-Turkish tensions, its implications and the role of Lebanon in the light of local PKK infrastructure; and the capturing of two alleged Israeli spies in Cyprus.

Side B: 

 The ambassador continues to address questions by journalists. He covers: Syrian support for PKK terrorists; accession negotiations with the European Union, their prospect and the issue of human rights; the position of islamists within Turkey, the dissolution of Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) and secularism; Greek-Turkish tensions in light of the Aegean dispute.