Iranian president seeks deeper ties with Ankara

TEHRAN

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Dec. 8 that they wanted to improve further relations with Turkey and the joint agreement by Ankara and Tehran to collaborate in numerous fields including banking and energy topics should be implemented faster.

The statement made by the Iranian President’s website covered Rouhani’s meeting with Binali Yıldırım, Turkish Parliamentary Speaker, which was within the frame of “Meeting of the Parliament Speakers on Combating Terrorism and Extremism”.

“Iran’s will is that sincere relation with brother and friend Turkey is developed in every field,” Rouhani said, adding that he regarded Turkey’s safety and stability as his own.

“Within this direction, in the face of the recent coup attempt, Iran took a firm and transparent attitude towards the stability and strengthening of Turkey,” he noted.

Iranian President saluted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his stance against the U.S. sanctions and constructive manner regarding the issues in the Islamic community.

Noting that Turkey, Iran and Russia took two decisions in the recent meetings, Rouhani went on to say that these decisions provided significant benefit in terms of financial cooperation and regional issues.

“Iran and Turkey have faced terrorism for years. Whenever their collaboration in the fight against terror increased, their strife ended up in more success. Both countries have carried out nice cooperation against regional-level terrorism in the past years,” he said.

Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Binali Yıldırım was in Tehran to attend “Meeting of the Parliament Speakers on Combating Terrorism and Extremism”. The event was also participated by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the parliamentary speakers of China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.