Iran asks help, PM to deliver message

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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New details have been released regarding Iran’s request for Ankara to act as a mediator to improve Washington-Tehran ties.

As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, Iran asked Ankara to help improve ties between Washington and Tehran, as reported by the Daily News yesterday, the details of the request have been revealed in an interview by the Guardian published yesterday.

Speaking to the Guardian aboard his prime ministerial plane, Erdoğan said Iranian officials made the request while George Bush was in office and that he had passed the message to the White House at the time. Erdoğan said that he was considering raising the matter with U.S. President Barack Obama, who has said he wants to engage with Iran at a G20 summit in London in April.

Erdoğan said Iran wanted Turkey to play a mediating role in overcoming mistrust between Washington and Tehran.

"If the United States also wants and asks us to play this role, we are ready to do this. They (the Iranians) told us that if something like this happened, they would want Turkey to play a role. These were words that were said openly. But I told this to President Bush myself," Erdoğan said.

In November, Erdoğan said Turkey could play a positive role if it was to act as a mediator in the stalled negotiations with Iran over its disputed nuclear program. But he did not say if he had any response from the U.S. administration on its proposal.

U.S. officials have previously reacted skeptically to Turkish proposals to mediate for normalization with Tehran. However, the idea may be given fresh consideration by the Obama administration, which has set up a sweeping review policy after the president promised to reach out if Iran "unclenched its fist," according to the Guardian.

Erdoğan's remarks came as the U.S. State Department finally appointed the veteran Clinton administration diplomat Dennis Ross as a special envoy responsible for tackling the Iran issue, according to the Guardian. In an article published last September, Ross advocated that the initial approach to Iran should be through a "direct, secret back channel," the Guardian wrote.

’Israel has to accept Palestine’

During the interview, the prime minister also renewed his criticism of Israel's recent offensive in Gaza and challenged the Israeli prime minister-designate, Binyamin Netanyahu, to recognize Palestinians' right to have their own state. Drawing parallels between Hamas's failure to recognize Israel and the refusal of Netanyahu to endorse a Palestinian state, Erdoğan said: "We are always telling Hamas to act differently, that we are for a two-state solution: Palestine and Israel. They have to accept this, but Israel also has to accept Palestine as well."

"Is Israel accepting Palestine right now? They are still not accepting them. But it is being expected of the Palestinian people to accept Israel. Now go and ask Mr. Netanyahu if he is accepting Palestine," Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan said an Israeli-Palestinian settlement had to include Hamas, which he called the party of "change and reform." He said his walkout at Davos was inspired by his conscience and a desire "to be the voice of the voiceless and the protector of the people who cannot protect themselves."

Dismissing fears that the U.S. pro-Israel lobby would retaliate to his harsh criticism by withdrawing its opposition to a congressional resolution to recognize the Armenian claims of genocide, Erdoğan said he did not believe the U.S. Congress would make a decision based on emotions.