Salehi says Turkey, Iran not rivals

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Akbar Salehi said Wednesday that Iran’s official look at Turkey was based on deep brotherhood and friendship.

In an exclusive interview with the Anadolu Agency (AA), Salehi said that Turkey and Iran were not rivals but complemented each other.

The interview comes following latest remarks of an Iranian lawmaker on a NATO early-warning radar system to be installed in Turkey.

“It is Iran’s natural right to target the missile defense shield system in Turkey in case of an attack, and we will definitely resort to that,” Hussein Ibrahim, the vice president of the Iranian parliamentary national security and foreign policy panel, reportedly said in an interview with the Iranian daily Shargh on Sunday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reportedly expressed Turkey’s uneasiness over remarks by Hussein Ibrahim, deputy head of the Iran parliament’s committee on foreign affairs and national security. In response, Salehi said Ibrahim’s remarks “did not reflect the position of the Iranian government.”

Turkey has agreed to participate in a NATO plan to set up an early-warning radar system in Malatya’s Kurecik town, which is in the east of the country.

“We have warned the Iranian official who made remarks on Turkey,” Salehi noted.

Our relations with Turkey are at their best level ever from a political, economic and cultural perspective. More than two million Iranians visit Turkey each year, Salehi said.

We are in constant touch with our Turkish friends. We hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on bilateral and regional issues continuously. There may be different views but that is natural. Turkey and Iran favor peace, stability and security in the region, Salehi said.

Certain circles, some of them knowingly and some others unknowingly, try to cause a conflict between our great nations and countries, Salehi underlined.

Unfortunately, certain figures in the Turkish and Iranian medias convey the views of Western commentators. Some others express views without having the necessary knowledge on international issues. Expressing views insensibly lead to misunderstandings. Such views exist in both countries. In recent times, certain individuals made comments on Turkey unknowingly and such comments were out of the boundaries of their duties in Iran. We reject all such views and comments, Salehi said.

“Warning”

Touching on those Iranians who made remarks on Turkey recently, Minister Salehi said that the remarks made only belong to those who made them.

Iran’s official foreign policy could only be stated by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad and me as the Foreign Minister. All statements made by individuals other than the three Iranian officials are personal remarks that do not represent Iran’s official policy. As such, all insensible statements and views are invalid as Iran’s foreign policy. We have warned those making remarks on Turkey-Iran relations irresponsibly and insensibly, Salehi underlined.

The glorious Turkish nation, beginning with President Gul, Premier Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu, should know that the official look at Turkey by the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on deep brotherhood and friendship. We are working so we can boost our relations, Salehi emphasized.

We request from our friends in Turkey and especially the Turkish media to handle certain views in such a way that they would not hurt bilateral relations, Salehi stressed.

There are common enemies that want to cause conflict and misunderstanding between Turkey and Iran. I kindly request from certain individuals in Turkey to refrain from wrong statements on Iran so that the two nations’ common enemies do not get an opportunity to hurt relations, Salehi said.

“Not rivals”

I believe that the future of relations between our countries will be very bright. The trend in our bilateral relations in recent years has been very positive, Salehi said.

The trade volume between Turkey and Iran was 12 billion USD last year. We would have reached a trade volume of 15 billion USD with Turkey by the end of 2011, Salehi noted.

Reminding that there was no visa requirement between Turkey and Iran, Salehi stated that there was almost no two countries like Turkey and Iran in the world with such close cultural, historic and traditional relations.

Foreign Minister Davutoglu had stated that the Turkish-Iranian border has been one of friendship and peace. Our border will continue to be one of friendship and peace in the future. Relations between our two countries will continue to develop, Salehi said.

The Westerners try to portray Turkey and Iran as two rivals. We are no rivals but complement each other, Salehi stressed.

Our two countries work to enhance peace, stability and security in the region and boost the prosperity of our peoples. Our efforts will reach our goals, Salehi noted.

Those trying to hurt our bilateral relations will never reach their aim, Salehi said.