Turkey urges Iran, US to resume talks

In order to resume nuclear negotiations between P5+1 and Iran, parties must abolish obstacles in front of negotiations as soon as possible, a Turkish official said. Iran said it was time to resume nuclear negotiations but objected to the Western powers’ conditions.

“It’s time to resume negotiation, if the other side will act honestly,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday. However, Western powers should enter talks without conditions, otherwise “it is a sign that they do not approve of the negotiations,” he said, referring to expectation for a reply on the written proposals of P5+1, which the West conditioned to embark on negotiations.

“Saeed Jalili [Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator] will convey to [Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet] Davutoğlu our proposal for venues and dates in order to deliver to [EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine] Ashton,” he said.

“The date, venue [of talks] and response to the letter [of Ashton] are different issues. Date, venue, other issues and the steps that must be taken ahead of the negotiations are mutually being discussed,” Davutoğlu said in a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart.

“What’s important is to resume talks as soon as possible and calm down the tension,” Davutoğlu said, adding that all sides were willing to resume negotiations.

As Salehi said on Jan. 18 that Iran was in touch with world powers to reopen talks, Washington and the EU quickly denied this, saying they were still waiting for Iran to show it wanted serious negotiations.

A spokesperson for Ashton said on Jan. 18, “There are no negotiations underway on new talks. We are still waiting for Iran to respond to the substantive proposals the high representative [Ashton] made in her letter from October [2011].”

Salehi had participated in the Joint Economic Cooperation Commission of the two neighboring countries.  Turkey’s Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar said new steps would be taken within the framework of the joint commission to help increase the volume of trade ties to $30 billion in 2015.

The two sides were expected to sign a memorandum of understanding at the end of the session when Daily News went to print yesterday.


/Huriyyet Daily News/