Turkish move into Syria would destroy peace capability: Iran

Asked about reports that Turkey aims to intervene in the Syrian town of Jarabulus, the Iranian ambassador said Turkey refuted these claims earlier.

“This issue came up several times. And, at the time, Turkey’s official authorities refuted these allegations,” the ambassador said late June 26, speaking to members of the Diplomacy Correspondents’ Association.

Underlining that Turkey has a major capacity to maintain peace and stability in Syria, “violating the territorial integrity of a U.N. member country would destroy all these capacities. We hope Turkey and Iran will jointly use their capacities to achieve peace and stability,” Bikdeli stated.  

Bikdeli did not want to elaborate on the key Iranian suspect of Dec. 17 graft probe case, Reza Zarrab, and said his ties with Iran are merely based on trade.

“He is a Turkish citizen and living in your country. He has commercial activities with Iran. Allegations about Zarrab were dismissed by the court,” he said.  

Asked if he was surprised when he saw picture of Zarrab was being awarded by Turkey’s Exporters Assembly as one of Turkey’s top exporters, the ambassador said he was not, since he did not see that picture. “You and I have different perspectives on the Zarrab case,” the ambassador added.

“He was awarded for being a successful businessman. As the Iranian embassy, we do not have any communication or connection with him,” Bikdeli said noting that several other businessman have trade connections with İran like Zarrab.

Zarrab was accused of running a crime ring, through which he is accused of paying bribes to cabinet members to cover his suspicious money transactions to enable gold and money transactions between Turkey, Iran and Russia, meanwhile obtaining Turkish citizenship for his relatives and others.