Erdogan: West is unfair to Iran

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency on the sidelines of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, Erdogan accused Western leaders of backpedalling from conditions they had set for Iran, after Turkey and Brazil secured those terms in the accord and for their silence about the undeclared nuclear arsenal of Israel.

Erdogan said he and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would maintain diplomatic efforts to gather support for the nuclear fuel swap declaration. He went on to say that he would most probably discuss the issue with US President Barack Obama during the G-20 summit in Canada next month.

Erdogan hit back at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said on Thursday that the Brazilian-Turkish mediation effort's effect of "buying time for Iran… makes the world more dangerous, not less."

"The step that we took is not one that puts the world in danger. On the contrary, it is a step to prevent attempts to put the world in danger," AFP quoted Erdogan as saying.

"We have said it from the very beginning - we do not want nuclear weapons in our region," he added.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration in the Iranian capital on May 17 that commits Tehran to deposit 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey that would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20% enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

Iran, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, says its nuclear activities are totally peaceful and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have never found any evidence of diversion in Iran's nuclear program. And Tehran has always emphasized that access to civilian nuclear technology is the inalienable right of all IAEA members and all NPT signatories.


/Trend/