(From L) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy hold a joint press conference following their meeting in Damascus on September 4, 2008. Assad said the four-way summit in Damascus aimed to lay the groundwork for direct negotiations between Syria and Israel. AFP PHOTO/GERARD CERLES (Photo credit should read GERARD CERLES/AFP/Getty Images)
