By Xinhua
Ankara : Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday on a three-day state visit in which he will address the Muslim country’s parliament in Hebrew.
Peres will address the Turkish parliament, the first time an Israeli president will speak before the assembly of a Muslim country.
Peres will also meet his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during his landmark visit in Turkey.
The meetings come before an economic forum which will bring together Turkish, Israeli and Palestinian leaders on establishing a planned joint industrial zone in the West Bank.
Turkey, a NATO member and Israel’s closest ally in the Islamic world, has in the past played the role of mediator between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors.
Turkey is perhaps Israel’s most important strategic ally after the United States, and economic cooperation between the two took off after the signing of a key military cooperation accord in 1996.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected in Ankara on Monday.
Abbas, who is negotiating with Israel an outline solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict before an international peace conference due in the United States, would also address the Turkish parliament on Monday, the Palestinian presidency said.
The Israeli and Palestinian presidents will meet on the margins of the economic forum in Ankara, the Palestinian presidency was quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency as saying.