Welcoming Iran nuclear agreement, Turkey calls for further progress

ANKARA/VILNIUS

"When we look at the positions (of the) P5+1 right now, Iran is still below the line we were able to bring in 2010, but we hope Iran will come to that line," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said. AA Photo

Describing the breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany as “a positive stage,” Turkey nevertheless cautioned parties to act with “responsibility in order to move this process further.”

“As Turkey, we consider the current stage in the nuclear negotiations as a positive stage,” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on April 3, also recalling that Turkey, long with Brazil, mediated previous negotiations over Iran’s disputed nuclear program in 2010.

Iran and six world powers, known as the P5+1, agreed a framework deal in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 2 which is contingent on reaching a final agreement by June 30.

“Everybody should act with responsibility in order to move this process further and this issue should be seen as the start of a new era with regard to regional stability,” Davutoğlu added, speaking at a joint press conference following talks with Pakistan’s visiting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Earlier in the same day, speaking during a visit to Vilnius, Lithuania, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu echoed Davutoğlu’s stance, saying that Turkey hoped Tehran would go “further” before the deadline for a final deal at the end of June.

“When we look at the positions [of the] P5+1 right now, Iran is still below the line we were able to bring in 2010, but we hope it will come to that line,” Çavuşoğlu said.

“As Turkey we are very pleased that negotiations held with the P5+1 have ended in political understanding. [We are] happy to see consensus on the general framework of a final agreement. I hope the parties will reach a final agreement,” he added.