Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al Abdullah start a two-day working visit to Turkey on Monday during which King Abdullah meets Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in Ankara and his Prime Minister Recep Tayyb Erdogan in Istanbul for talks on ways to develop bilateral cooperation particularly in economic and political domains.



The King's talks will also cover situation in Iraq and Palestine and other international issues. King Abdullah will also meet Turkish businessmen and investors for talks on joint economic and investment projects.



King Abdullah said Jordan and Turkey enjoy a very close and warm relations that go deeply in history and "we have strong political relations with Turkey."



In an interview with Turkish TV channel CNN and the Turkish paper "Hurrayat", King Abdullah said during his visit he will discuss issues of mutual interest such as future of Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict and possibly the projected reform proposals in the Middle East region.



Turkey, the King added plays a significant role in the course of its strategic relations with the Middle East and it is placed in a situation that enables it to play an equitable role in the region not only because it is culturally close to peoples in the region but because it is situated on a gateway between two continents.



In reply to a question on Turkey's efforts to join the EU membership, King said he personally sees this a positive issue and hoped Turkey would enter the EU and Turkey has such a cultural flexibility that qualifies it to achieve this objective.



Because Turkey is an Islamic country inside the EU and has its historical relations with the Arab world, it is well positioned to create a balance between the east and the west, King Abdullah said.



Whether the King fears the breakout of ethnic conflict in Iraq, His Majesty hoped that the Iraqis would soon have power over their country and be able to build their homeland. " But we should also work together to avert making ethnic difference in Iraq such an issue or to be transformed into a civil war, God forbid," the King said. "Jordan and Turkey, as countries neighboring Iraq have shared interest to protect Iraq's unity and sovereignty," he added.



On the proposed reform plan in the Middle East, King Abdullah said we in Jordan have an ambitious and effective reform program, that we started years ago. " We will work hard with other Arab states during the upcoming summit to affirm to the whole world that reformation starts from within the country itself," the King said.



We know that every country has its own rhythm that is different from the other but we hope the Arab countries would come up with a reform plan during the summit. Any reform program imposed from outside the region would stir a very negative reaction.



One of the major issues associated with reform in the Middle East is finding a solution the central issue in the region and that is the Palestinian problem and reform can never be made without getting rid of instability in the region and instability will remain there as long as the Palestinian issue is unsolved, King Abdullah said.