Category: Middle East

Brazil, Turkey to discuss Iran

The leaders of UN Security Council members Brazil and Turkey, who recently signed a nuclear fuel swap declaration with Iran, are to meet next week.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during his three-visit to the Latin American country starting on Wednesday, AFP quoted diplomats from both countries as saying on Thursday.

Following trilateral talks, Iran, Brazil and Turkey issued a joint declaration on Monday under which Iran agreed to send its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in return for the nuclear fuel it needs for medical purposes.

Only one day after the declaration, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had reached an agreement with other veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council for imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran.

The diplomats said the two leaders would meet on Thursday over a working lunch in Brasilia.

Both Brazil and Turkey, which are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, opposed the new resolution, reaffirming their commitment to a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear issue.

The UNSC comprises of five permanent — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US — and 10 temporary members. In order to be approved, the resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by permanent members.

Press TV

May 20, 2010
Turkish jets hit PKK camps in northern Iraq

Thursday, May 20, 2010

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish fighters have launched an aerial attack against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, targets in northern Iraq, the private channel NTV reported late Thursday.

It said 20 fighters hit around 50 points in the Hakurk and Zap region, without detailing the specific targets and damage given.

The attack came a day after Turkey’s top envoy in Baghdad, Murat Özçelik, met with Massoud Barzani, head of the Regional Kurdish Administration.

Hurriyet Daily News

May 20, 2010
Russia, Turkey call for Hamas inclusion

Russia and Turkey have called for the inclusion of the democratically elected Palestinian government of Hamas in Middle East peace talks.

“Unfortunately Palestinians have been split into two… In order to reunite them, you have to speak to both sides. Hamas won elections in Gaza and cannot be ignored,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Ankara on Wednesday.

“Undoubtedly, all parties to this problem should be included more actively (in the process) in order to reach a solution. The process should not exclude anyone,” he added.

Medvedev agreed with the idea that no group should be excluded from the peace process.

The Russian president urged the United States to work actively with other nations in the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

He also stated that a divided Palestinian administration could not help resolve the conflict.

Medvedev said the division “causes the Palestinians to regress.” He also warned that Gaza was “facing a human tragedy.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Medvedev was in Syria, where he met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Medvedev’s meeting with Meshaal and his later comments in Turkey received an angry response from the Israeli foreign ministry.

“The foreign ministry vehemently rejects the call from the presidents of Russia and Turkey to include Hamas in the peace process and expresses deep disappointment over the meeting between the president of Russia and Khaled Meshaal in Damascus,” it said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

However, that was not the only thing about Medvedev’s visits that upset Tel Aviv. In a phone conversation before Medvedev left for Syria, Israeli President Shimon Peres had asked him to convey a message to Assad.

But according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Medvedev did not agree because it contradicted Moscow’s stance.

“We did not have a special need to implement this message because this is our position — to live in peace and solve issues on the basis of the international legal framework adopted by everyone and which should now be implemented by everyone,” Lavrov told AFP.

Press TV

May 13, 2010
Erdogan backs sail to Gaza

Turkish leader tells organizers he supports efforts to ‘break oppressive siege on Gaza Strip’

Roee Nahmias

Published: 05.11.10, 15:24 / Israel News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told organizers of a sail to Gaza Tuesday that he would support them in their efforts to ‘break the oppressive siege on the Gaza Strip’.

The independent Palestinian news agency PNN reported that during the Istanbul meeting with members of the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) Erdogan said the breaking of the siege was ‘at the top of Turkey’s list of priorities’.

He said he would also support efforts to rebuild “what the Israeli war machine destroyed 15 months ago”.

Israel’s recentacceptance into the ranks of the OECD also came up. “We must force Israel to lift the siege on Gaza and respect human rights as a condition for its acceptance into any international organization,” Erdogan said.

The website for IHH – the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief – said Sahin had been living in the West Bank since November 28 and was enrolled as a student at Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The website for IHH – the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief – said Sahin had been living in the West Bank since November 28 and was enrolled as a student at Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

It said the arrest was an Israeli attempt to stop the sail to Gaza and denied the Shin Bet’s allegations.

ynetnews

May 11, 2010
US ambassador hails Turkey’s role in Iran talks

U.S. Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey said Wednesday that Turkey has played crucial role as a mediator regarding Iran’s nuclear problem for some time.

Answering questions of journalists at an industrial zone in Ankara, Jeffrey said another mediator Brazil was in close cooperation with Turkey. U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Washington, D.C. and they discussed the issue of being a mediator for Iran’s nuclear problem, Jeffrey said.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu expressed hope on Wednesday that diplomatic efforts Turkey jointly exerted with Brazil yielded a positive result over Iran’s nuclear program. “We are continuing our vigorous consultations in full coordination with Brazil. We will have fresh initiatives in the coming days and I hope our joint efforts will bring about positive results,” Davutoglu told reporters in a press meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Kostyantyn Hryshchenko in capital Kiev.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed “in principle” to a Brazilian role in breaking the deadlock over a U.N.-backed nuclear fuel swap with the West.

Under the U.N. plan first put forward in 2009, Western powers would send nuclear fuel rods to a Tehran reactor in exchange for Iran’s stock of lower-level enriched uranium. The U.S. and its allies fear Iran’s disputed nuclear program aims to build nuclear weapons, and view the swap as a way to curb Tehran’s capacity to do so.

Brazil denies nuclear swap plan

Iran, which insists its nuclear program only aims to generate electricity, rejected the original exchange proposal. At the same time, the country’s leaders have worked to keep the offer on the table, proposing variations, though without accepting the terms set in the U.N. proposal.

A statement posted on Ahmadinejad’s website late Tuesday said during a telephone conversation with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Iranian president “announced his agreement in principle” to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s mediation proposal.

However, a spokesman for Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday Brasilia had not made an official offer to mediate yet, but that Brazil was ready to help with talks any way it can.

A Brazilian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that no such plan had been proposed during a visit to Tehran last month by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

“We were informed that an official Iranian government website mentioned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supported a Brazilian ‘program.’ But there was no presentation of a formal program during the foreign minister’s visit,” the spokesman said.

Brazil and Turkey, which are currently non-permanent members of the Security Council, oppose a new round of sanctions, insisting that only talks will resolve the impasse.

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Compiled from AA, AFP and AP reports by the Daily News staff.

www.Hurriyetdailynews.com

May 6, 2010
China, Turkey want diplomacy on Iran

UN Security Council member states China and Turkey have reiterated commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Iran’s civilian nuclear program.

“We will do everything possible to build trust between Iran and the United States and Iran and the West to avoid a military confrontation and possible sanctions,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by London-based Al-Hayat newspaper.

Davutoglu went on to call for “more diplomatic efforts to engage with Iran in order to build trust between (all) sides.”

The remarks come one day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in an address before the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the UN headquarters in New York, confronted the United States for refusing to exclude Iran from the list of countries that could become the target of US nukes.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters on Tuesday that the permanent UNSC member state was in favor of “relevant measures” to help resolve the issue through talks.

“Dialogue and negotiations are the best way out to resolve this issue and relevant discussions are still under way,” she added.

Washington and its allies are rallying support for tougher UNSC sanctions against Iran. However, the imposition of sanctions requires nine affirmative votes including those of the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council.

Permanent UNSC member China and temporary members Turkey and Brazil are among the countries that support Iran’s right to a peaceful nuclear program.

While the West accuses Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program, Tehran has repeatedly rejected the allegation and argues that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is entitled to the peaceful use of the technology for electricity generation and medical research.

President Ahmadinejad offered an itemized proposal to the NPT review conference, calling for measures to limit the power held by nuclear armed states in the UNSC.

Press TV
ZHD/HGH

May 4, 2010