Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday reassured Iran that Ankara wouldn't allow Turkish soil to be used for any attack against a neighbor, during a trip to Tehran focused on averting a Sunni-Shia "cold war" in the region.
Turkey
's
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday reassured
Iran
that
Ankara
wouldn't allow Turkish soil to be used for any attack against a neighbor,
during a trip to
Tehran
focused on averting a Sunni-Shia "cold war" in the region.
Mr. Davutoglu's two-day visit highlights Ankara's increasingly delicate
position, caught between Iran--a neighbor capable of causing Turkey significant
economic and strategic damage--on one side, and Western allies determined to
end Tehran's alleged nuclear-weapons program on the other, analysts said.
The visit, during which Mr. Davutoglu also met with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and with Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric from
Iraq
, came
as the
U.S.
and
the European Union are ramping up sanctions to block international purchases of
Iranian oil,
Tehran
's
primary source of revenue.
Though not binding on
Turkey
, the
U.S.
sanctions would penalize Turkish companies that purchase Iranian oil, unless
they can secure a special waiver.
Turkey
gets
30% of its oil from
Iran
and
is among
Iran
's top
consumers of crude, at just over 200,000 barrels a day. Halting those purchases
would severely antagonize
Tehran
,
which says its nuclear program is purely civilian, analysts say.
For
Ankara
there
is more at stake than oil or the $15 billion of total annual trade between the
two countries.
Iran
,
which is mainly Shiite, and
Turkey
,
which is mainly Sunni, find themselves supporting opposing sides in sectarian
disputes in both
Syria
and
Iraq
,
drawing the two neighbors into a regional rivalry with high stakes.
On Thursday, Mr. Davutoglu appeared to try to smooth tensions in a relationship
that until last year had been close. At a joint news conference with his
Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, Mr. Davutoglu said a North Atlantic
Treaty Organization missile-defense system, whose radar
Turkey
has
agreed to host, wasn't directed at
Iran
or
any specific country, according to
Iran
's
Fars
news
agency. He also pledged that
Turkey
would
never allow its soil to be used to launch an attack on a neighbor, the agency
said.
The
U.S.
maintains an air base in eastern
Turkey
and
has kept on the table a military option to deter
Iran
from
obtaining a nuclear weapon.
As
U.S.
forces leave
Iraq
,
Turkish diplomats say they have become increasingly concerned over the risk
that sectarian conflicts could partition the country among Shiites, Sunnis and
Kurds. A partitioned
Iraq
could
also inflame
Turkey
's
troubles with its own Kurdish militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or
PKK, analysts say.
Iran
,
Iraq
and
Syria
all
border
Turkey
.
"Some circles are inclined to start a cold war around the Sunni-Shiite
tension, which would have an impact for decades. In my visit I will especially
bring this up," Mr. Davutoglu said before flying to
Tehran
on
Wednesday, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu. "Regional
sectarian tension would be suicide for the whole region," he said,
referring also to the
Gulf states
.
The foreign minister's spokesman, contacted by phone in
Tehran
,
confirmed that Mr. Davutoglu had followed through in raising the sectarian
issue in his
Tehran
talks. He said Mr. Davutoglu would also raise the need to avert Shiite-Sunni
conflict in coming visits to
Moscow
and
Washington
, as
well as with other partners.
The spokesman also said Mr. Davutoglu conveyed an invitation from EU
foreign-policy coordinator Catherine Ashton for
Iran
to
restart nuclear negotiations with the so-called P5+1-- the permanent United
Nations Security Council members plus
Germany--
and
that Mr. Salehi said
Iran
was
ready to talk.
Mr. Salehi said Thursday that trade between
Turkey
and
Iran
would
exceed $15 billion in 2012. The two countries clocked up just under that amount
in the first 11 months of 2011, according to
Turkey
's
statistics agency. Any halt to Turkish oil purchases from
Iran
appears unlikely.
"The government have made it clear [to
Washington
] that
there is only so much they can do. They certainly won't stop buying oil from
Iran
,"
said Soli Ozel, professor of international relations and political science at
Bilgi
University
in
Istanbul
.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01