By: Payman Yazdani
TEHRAN, (MNA) – Due to recent regional developments and having a new administration in US, it is important for Iran and Turkey to cement their cooperation and leave the door open for other states to join them to restore regional stability.
Iranian Foreign Minister, Zarif, who visited Turkey as the last leg of his recent tour to Russia and the Caucasian region, has sat down for talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Istanbul on Friday morning. He also visited the country's President and discussed regional issues with him for two hours without presence of journalists.
Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers yesterday in a joint press conference stressed the need for close cooperation of the two countries to restore regional stability and security.
Turkish foreign minister pointed to the recent conflict erupted between Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh region and said that Iran and Turkey should make their utmost efforts to restore stability in the region.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev proposed a mechanism which was agreed by the presidents of Turkey and Russia. Iran's Zarif before arriving in Turkey visited the republic of Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia and Armenia and discussed the 6-party cooperation with the countries' officials.
During the press conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, for his part, pointed to the sanctions and coronavirus pandemic and said that level of trade and business cooperation between Iran and Turkey decreased due to the sanctions imposed against Iran and also spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic.
Effective steps have been taken in this regard in order to solve existing problems, he added.
Zarif then pointed to the recent developments in Afghanistan and said that trilateral cooperation between Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan will be convened at the request of the Afghanistan government.
The two countries of Iran and Turkey enjoy high potentials and capabilities to develop and broaden the level of their cooperation on the issues of mutual concerns.
Zarif then pointed to the sanctions imposed by US against Turkey and said, “Islamic Republic of Iran condemns sanctions imposed by US against Turkey.
Unfortunately, the US government has been addicted to sanctions and this wrong policy will cost dearly for the whole world.”
In the meeting, constructive talks were held between Iran and Turkey in the fields of transit, trade, business and energy, according to Zarif, adding, “Settling problems facing investors and traders of the two countries is the main aim which is followed up strictly.”
Zarif also said a trilateral meeting of Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan will be held in Tehran to discuss regional cooperation.
Besides two countries' intention to closely work together in Caucasus and Afghanistan, they also expressed their willingness to increase cooperation in Syria and Iraq to restore peace and stability in the region.
Having a new administration in the White House which will act more complicatedly and will work to destabilize the region more than before, it seems that closer cooperation of two regional heavy weights, Iran and Turkey, is a must to restore regional stability and defuse the plots designed by the West to further destabilize the region for their own geopolitical interests.
commenting on the importance of Tehran and Ankara cooperation in order to restore regional stability and the key role that they can play, Dr. Osman Faruk Logoglu a senior member of Turkey's CHP and veteran politician said, "One way to regional stability in the broader Middle East is through the reduction and eventual elimination of intervention by outside powers. Attaining that goal requires the countries of the region to take ownership of their problems and resolve them by their own means. The backbone of such an effort would be greater cooperation and coordination between Turkey and Iran as the heavy-weights of the regions. The door should be open to all others in this turbulent region. While all this may sound unrealistic, it is to be preferred to the eternal turmoil to which our region is subjected."
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