(Iran Daily) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday the fate of regional nations are interlinked and they should safeguard one another’s interests.
In a meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, Ahmadinejad also said that the Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish nations have friendly and brotherly relations, IRNA reported.
He added that enemies are bent on dominating the region and that they are against regional countries, including Iran, Turkey and Iraq, living in peace and security.
Referring to the presence of occupiers in the Middle East as a cause of instability, the president said they endanger the security of the whole region.
“The Iraqi president and prime minister are opposed to terrorist acts and will spare no efforts to suppress terrorism in northern Iraq,“ he said.
Babacan, for his part, outlined the latest regional developments, particularly in Iraq, and underscored the necessity of preserving the country’s stability and territorial integrity.
He further assessed Iran-Turkey ties as historical, friendly and brotherly, calling for expanding cooperation with Iran in all fields.
Referring to the fact that the campaign against terrorism is the absolute right of every country, he praised efforts by Iran to fight terrorist groups.
In a telephone conversation with President Ahmadinejad late Saturday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul informed him of the latest developments on Turkey-Iraq borders.
Both Ahmadinejad and Gul underlined the necessity of maintaining Iraqi unity and territorial integrity.
The two presidents agreed that “occupiers have prepared the ground for disunity and are supporting terrorists with their double standards“, adding that terrorists are not friends of any nations in the region, including Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
In separate telephone conversations with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki late Saturday, Ahmadinejad discussed the latest developments on Iraq-Turkey border.
The two sides underlined the importance of continuing consultations over the current situation along Iraqi border areas.
Also on Sunday, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan and called for intensifying the campaign against terrorism and condemned terrorist acts from Iraqi soil against the regional countries.
Mottaki added that Iran believes in campaign against terrorism.
Babacan, for his part, pointed to consolidated relations between Iran and Turkey, which date back to 400 years ago, saying that Ankara prioritizes ties with Tehran.
Pointing to his country’s campaign against terrorists who attack the Turkish people and soldiers from the Iraqi soil, he noted that confronting PKK does not mean confronting Iraq.
“Ankara seriously opposes the intervention of foreign powers in northern Iraq,“ he said.
