Turkish PM slams both Syria, Iran for shortcomings

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with PM Erdogan (L) in Tehran on March 29. AFP photo

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the Iranian administration over its tactical statements on the venue of the upcoming nuclear talks with the P5+1 group, accusing Tehran of being unwilling to negotiate with the Western powers.

“Proposing Damascus or Baghdad as the venue of talks means ‘these talks should not take place.’ You know very well that your counterparts will not come there,” Erdoğan said at a press conference with visiting Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

“They have to be honest. When you are not honest, you start to lose credibility. This is not the language of diplomacy. This language does not suit me,” he said.

Erdoğan’s statement reflects the ongoing rift between Ankara and Tehran over the turmoil in Syria which caused Turkey to summon the Iranian envoy to the Foreign Ministry to lodge a reaction against a harsh accusation from Tehran. In the light of recent tension, Iranian officials said nuclear talks slated for April 13 should take place in China, Iraq or Syria instead of Istanbul.

“We are not seeking to gain prestige [by hosting these talks],” Erdoğan said, adding that Turkey has always tried to pursue a just policy when it comes to the Iranian nuclear case.

Speaking about the situation in Syria, Erdoğan said information coming from Syria showed that Syrian troops and tanks were not withdrawing from the cities. “These are all lies. There are still reports about the killings. The tanks are not in a maneuver of withdrawal but in a maneuver of deception,” he said.
Erdoğan said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had never been honest and never kept his promises since the turmoil began last year. “We’ll see whether [these reports of withdrawal] are accurate on April 10.”