Turkish Forum

Category: Iran

  • Get serious with Iran

    Get serious with Iran

    Regarding the Dec. 9 editorial “A sterile conversation”:

    It is unbelievable that the United States and its U.N. Security Council allies have not realized what games Iran is playing with regard to its nuclear program.

    Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili’s comment at a news conference that halting uranium enrichment “will not be discussed at the Istanbul meeting” and the fact that the regime is continuing production of its own processed uranium ore should be sufficient evidence that its tactics, as the editorial said, are intended “to seek to delay further sanctions, create dissension among the United States and its allies, and distract attention from its continuing crackdown on the opposition Green movement.”

    No amount of dialogue will impede Iran’s nuclear aspirations or its systematic and rigorous clampdown on dissent and freedom. The government continues to torture and kill anyone who dares to question the authority of the ruling clerics. It is time for the United States and its allies to recognize the games, stop further negotiations, increase sanctions (such as a full ban on landings by Iranian airliners in Europe) and support Iran’s internal resistance.

    Bijan Rouhani, Frederick

    via Get serious with Iran.

  • Iran says ready to talk with G5+1 before cameras

    Iran says ready to talk with G5+1 before cameras

    TEHRAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — The aide to Iranian nuclear negotiator said the country is ready to hold next round of talks with the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany ( G5+1) in front of the media cameras, the local ISNA news agency reported on Monday.

    “We will be ready to hold the next round of the talks with the media participating,” Abolfazl Zohrehvand, the aid, was quoted as saying.

    The two-day talks behind the closed doors between Iran and the six major powers on Iran’s nuclear program ended on Dec. 7, with both sides agreeing to meet again in late January in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul.

    via Iran says ready to talk with G5+1 before cameras: report.

  • Ashton hopes Iranian reshuffle does not delay Iran Six talks

    Ashton hopes Iranian reshuffle does not delay Iran Six talks

    EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton expressed concern on Monday that the dismissal of Iran’s foreign minister would delay the forthcoming meeting of the Iran Six in Istanbul.

    ashton

    Following the latest round of talks in Geneva on December 6-7, the Iran Six group of international mediators (Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany) agreed to reconvene in Istanbul at the end of January.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki earlier on Monday and temporarily replaced him with the country’s atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi. Spectators say the move is a signal to the West that Iran is not willing to relinquish its nuclear program.

    The Iranian media has been saying for the past year that Mottaki would be dismissed if a new round of UN sanctions was placed on the Islamic Republic. The UN Security Council implemented a fourth round of sanctions on Iran in June.

    The West, led by the United States, suspects Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but the Islamic Republic insists it needs nuclear power solely for civilian purposes.

    The Iran Six has been trying since 2003 to convince Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program and to alleviate concerns about its nuclear ambitions.

    BRUSSELS, December 13 (RIA Novosti)

    via Ashton hopes Iranian reshuffle does not delay Iran Six talks | World | RIA Novosti.

  • Ahmadinejad to attend Istanbul ECO meeting

    Ahmadinejad to attend Istanbul ECO meeting

    Tehran Times Political Desk

    TEHRAN, Dec. 12 (MNA) — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will travel to Turkey next week to attend the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit.

    The meeting will be held on December 20-21 in Istanbul.

    In the two-day meeting Ahmadinejad will hold talks with Turkish and other member countries’ officials.

    ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states.

    In 1992, the organization was expanded to include seven new members and now current members of ECO are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

    MB/SJ END MN

  • tehran times : ‘Iran-Turkey trade hits $7.5b’

    tehran times : ‘Iran-Turkey trade hits $7.5b’

    ‘Iran-Turkey trade hits $7.5b’

    The volume of annual trade exchanges between Iran and Turkey has reached $7.5 billion, indicating a growing trend in Tehran-Ankara economic interactions, a Turkish official says.

    The economic counselor of the Turkish embassy in Tehran made the remarks at a meeting between Turkish Muslim businessmen and Iranian traders in Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) on Tuesday, Fars news agency reported.

    He went on to say that Turkey and Iran have planned to increase their trade transactions to $30 billion by 2015.

    Earlier in the day, ICCIM Chairman Mohammad Nahavandian and Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarciklioglu signed an agreement to increase trade cooperation between Iranian and Turkish companies.

    The two officials also agreed to organize an event to increase competition among the companies of members of Islamic Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the cooperation of ICCIM and TOBB.

    Nahavandian arrived in Turkey on Tuesday at the helm of a delegation. During the three-day visit Iranian and Turkish officials will hold meetings to discuss the mutual economic relations, including the standardization of halal products, tourism and banking.

    Also on Tuesday, Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Bahman Hosseinpour said Tehran wants to increase trade via Turkish ports and shift a large part of its trade from ports of the Persian Gulf to Turkish ports on the Black Sea and Mediterranean.

    The Iranian envoy made the remarks visiting Turkey’s Black Sea coast as part of a fact-finding mission on the facilities available at Turkish ports.

    “We want to transfer a large portion of our trade from the Persian Gulf… to Turkey,” the Turkish Anatolian news agency quoted Hosseinpour as saying.

    The envoy, who also visited Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast and the Black Sea ports of Trabzon and Samsun, said the officials of both countries have voiced support for the plans.

    In October 2009, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed to increase the level of their annual trade exchanges to $30 billion within the coming 4 to 5 years.

    Iran and Turkey have very close trade and economic relations. Both countries are part of the Economic Cooperation Organization. Turkey receives many Iranian tourists each year.

    In early October, Turkish President Abdullah Gul voiced Ankara’s determination to boost trade ties with Iran, despite the US pressure to halt trade with the Islamic Republic, calling for more agreements between the two neighboring countries to improve the bilateral trade ties.

    (Source: Press TV)

  • Kuwaiti Speaker Underlines Peaceful Nature of Iran’s N. Program

    Kuwaiti Speaker Underlines Peaceful Nature of Iran’s N. Program

    TEHRAN (FNA)- Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker Jassem Mohammad al-Kharafi said that his country believes in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, and criticized West’s silence on Israel’s nuclear stockpile.

    A0852690“As Iranians are reiterating, their nuclear program is peaceful and for civilian purposes and we (Kuwaitis) have no doubt about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” Kharafi, who heads his country’s parliamentary delegation in a four-day visit to Turkey, told reporters in Istanbul.

    He blasted the western ploy and hues and cries about Iran’s nuclear program, and said the western countries make baseless claims about Iran’s nuclear program but “Israel has been ignored in these hue and cries, while it is only Israel which has a nuclear arsenal in the region”.

    As regards his talks with Turkish officials, Kharafi stated that Kuwait and Turkey enjoy common views on regional issues, adding that in their talks, they have sought solution to the regional problems.

    Discussions also touched on issues concerning the region namely the Palestinian cause in addition to the situation in Iraq and Lebanon, as well as the Iranian nuclear file, stated the top Kuwaiti lawmaker.

    Iran and Kuwait enjoy cordial diplomatic relations. After Iran came under increasing pressure from the West in recent years over its civilian nuclear program, Kuwait demanded the US to respect Iranian sovereignty and seek a diplomat solution to the matter.

    via Fars News Agency :: Kuwaiti Speaker Underlines Peaceful Nature of Iran’s N. Program.