Iran, Turkey Call for Promotion of Ties to Strategic Level

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have called for expansion of Tehran-Ankara bilateral ties to a strategic level to tackle regional problems.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during an official welcoming ceremony at the presidential complex in Ankara, Turkey, on April 16, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

In a phone conversation on Thursday, Rouhani and Erdogan conferred on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues.

The two sides also expressed their interest in expansion of bilateral ties between Iran and Turkey in all fields, a Farsi report by the Iranian president’s official website said.

Rouhani called for further promotion of economic relations and said immediate use of national currencies of Iran and Turkey in their economic exchanges could speed up the expansion process.

He then referred to the latest visit of Iranian foreign minister to Turkey and said today there are lots of elements in the region threatening the interests of Iran, Turkey and other Islamic states.

“So, cooperation and exchanging views between Iran and Turkey should continue over regional and international issues to cope with the threats.”

Touching on the trilateral relations among Turkey, Iran and Russia on the regional issues, he said the cooperation is a must in fight against terror in the region.

He then welcomed the upcoming Syria summit to be held in Istanbul and called for a meeting between foreign ministers of the three countries to prepare the agenda of the summit.

For his part, the Turkish president congratulated the Iranian government and nation on the 39th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

He also called for the use of national currencies between Iran and Turkey for economic exchanges.

Elsewhere in his statements, Erdogan highlighted the commonalities in Iran and Turkey’s stances towards many regional and international issues and expressed satisfaction over the current level of cooperation between Iran and Turkey in fight against terrorism.

He lauded the achievements of Sochi Congress on Syria peace and officially invited his Iranian counterpart to attend the second round of such talks slated to be held in Istanbul.

Erdogan also said a number of western leaders have expressed their interest in taking part in Iran-Russia-Turkey talks on Syria.

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