During the visit, Turkish officials also reasserted the fact that their country's relations with Israel did not target other parties. Nor was there any intention of undermining the interests of the others. Meanwhile, Turkey is urged to reconsider its military cooperation with Israel particularly since a just and comprehensive peace is still far from achieved. This anniversary falls on December 21. Tripoli has earlier this year signaled that it was ready to let two of its nationals, suspected of being behind the 1988 bombing, stand trial somewhere in the Netherlands before a Scottish trial but it demanded a host of clarifications before handing them over.
Diplomatic sources maintain that all sticking points but one have been sorted out.
An outstanding issue pertains to the place where the two Libyans accused, if convicted, would serve their sentencing. A Libyan Foreign Ministry statement also this week contended that a settlement is close. Judging by the optimistic remarks coming from Anan, Britain and Tripoli, there are good grounds to expect that the trial of the two suspects would start some time in the near future in order to put an end to the whole saga. Reactions from Washington show that the US is not impressed. US officials are not ready yet to look into Tripoli s requests for guarantees that its suspects would have a fair trial.