Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkish-Iranian dialogue is quite crucial in this critical period when sectarian tensions are tried to be provoked, while speaking at a think tank institution in Tehran on Tuesday.
Stating that Turkey is pleased that P5+1 and Iran reached an agreement in Geneva, Turkish FM said that Turkey has been contributing to the nuclear deal for more than six years.
“The agreement between Iran, Turkey and Brazil in 2010 was a missed opportunity. If that agreement was respected rather than going to further sanctions I am sure that it would be an easier asset for today’s agreement because Iran did not enrich 20% of uranium,” stated Davuoglu.
Davutoglu said that Turkey doesn’t want nuclear weapon in the region, “But at the same time we don’t want any limitation on peaceful technology in any way” added Davutoglu
Davutoglu also underlined that Turkey is in favor of all peaceful technological development and this agreement in that sense.
“There is a need of dialogue and need of economic interdependency and Turkish-Iranian relations are the backbone of the stability in the region,” said FM Davutoglu.
Touching upon the Turkish foreign policy sentiments of developing relations with major world powers and Turkey’s move into different regions, FM Davutoglu said “We are not in cold war, our relations with Russia is not alternative to the US vice versa. We are a member of NATO and want to be a member of EU but these are not an obstacle before developing relations with other countries.”
Noting Turkey doesn’t want nuclear weapons in the region, Davutoglu explained that Turkey is in favor of all peaceful technological development and this agreement in that sense, adding "we don’t want any limitation on peaceful technology in any way.”
When asked about the differences of opinion between Turkey and Iran on the Syrian crisis, Davutoglu noted Turkey had tried to persuade Syrian President Bashar al Assad to hold elections and make reforms when the crisis broke out in March 2011.
"The break in Turkey-Syria ties began after the Syrian regime started brutally killing its own people," he said, explaing that if Turkey had had negative intentions and had wanted to intervene in Syria, it could have done so in 2004, 2005 and 2006 when Syria was isolated by the whole world. "We could have cooperated with the US and west against Assad. Turkey has the same government. We did not change, but the Syrian regime itself."
The minister stressed it is unacceptable that regime forces are bombing their own cities.
Davutoglu refuted claims that Turkey supports radical groups in Syria by saying, "We have never supported groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda. We are against tyranny. Al-Qaeda is as dangerous as Assad for us."
"If we are going to oppose the presence of foreign radical fighters in Syria, then we should oppose all of them," he added.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
