ANKARA
A spokesperson for the Turkish foreign ministry has said Turkey did not provide weapons neither to the Syrian opposition, nor to any other neighboring country.
"Turkey does not send weapons to any neighboring country including Syria," said spokesperson Selcuk Unal during a press briefing at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in capital Ankara on Friday.
Unal said recent news stories claiming such a transfer were based on unidentified sources.
Commenting on the latest developments in Syria, Unal said ending the bloodshed in this country was the biggest priority for Turkey.
The spokesperson said Turkey stood at the same distance to all groups in Syria, moreover, it attached high importance to Syrian nation's prosperity and future.
Pointing to the upcoming Paris summit on Syria, he said an overall assessment would be made regarding the Syrian conflict and the steps to be taken would be discussed at the gathering.
-Visa exemption talks with EU-
Commenting on EU's authorizing the European Commission to conduct visa exemption talks with Turkey, Unal recalled that Turkey and the union had initialled the readmission agreement following such authorization.
"This is a remarkable step for us," said Unal, saying the next phase would be the preparation of an action plan by the Commission to determine the steps to be taken by Turkey on the way to visa exemption.
"Once such action plan is delivered to us and it is assessed and approved by our relevant institutions, the official launching of exemption talks would be possible. Parallel to that, the readmission agreement could be signed as well. We expect this process to be completed as soon as possible," he said.
-Diplomatic traffic-
Commenting on Turkey's recent busy diplomatic traffic, Unal said Turkey had been the venue of numerous regional and international meetings in June.
The spokesperson said Istanbul would be hosting the 20th anniversary summit of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum before the month ended.
Unal said that the BSEC summit, which would bring together high-level officials from numerous countries, would be important in terms of providing a new vision, as well as more efficiency and visibility to the organization.
He also said Turkey would take over BSEC term presidency right after the summit, effective as of July 1.
-France & Cyprus-
Upon a question on Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's latest remarks stating that sanctions on France would be lifted soon, Unal said Turkey planned to terminate the sanctions after the foreign minister's upcoming visit to France on July 5.
Regarding the progress of Cyprus negotiations, the spokesperson said the current situation in the island was a consequence of the Greek Cypriot party's stance on the matter.
Unal said the Turkish side had displayed all the efforts so far, however, it had not received any concrete answer from Greek Cypriots.
The spokesperson also said UN Secretary General's special envoy on Cyprus, Alexander Downer, kept holding talks on the issue and currently worked on several measures.
