Iran, Turkey to double trade volume despite differences

Haaretz -- Iran and Turkey said Thursday they planned to double their trade volume despite having political differences on Syria and a NATO radar shield on Turkish soil.

"Our annual trade volume currently stands at 15 billion dollars but we hope to double it in the near future," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said in a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Tehran.

Despite the plan to increase trade, the two sides did not seem to have settled political differences, especially on the situation in Syria.

"Just as we support realization of the people's rights and demands in every country, we at the same time condemn foreign interference in any country," said Salehi.

While Iran is supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad, Turkey supports the Syrian opposition. Davutoglu said, though an interpreter, "I shared with my Iranian counterpart Turkey's serious concern about the situation in Syria… our interest in witnessing the realization of people's will and hope Iran would relay this to the Syrian officials."

He also clarified that the NATO radar shield was in no way any threat to Turkey's neighbours, including Iran. "This is radar system based in Turkey as (a) NATO member state and purely serves defence purposes," he said.

"We have made clear and this is and will be our principle stance that this system causes no threat to our neighbors and that no NATO attack would ever (be) carried against our neighbours from Turkish soil," the Turkish official added.

Davutoglu, however, called on Tehran to avoid any threatening rhetoric by its officials against Turkey with regard to the radar shield.

He was referring to comments last year by an Iranian general of the Revolutionary Guards who had threatened to attack the NATO radar shield base in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Salehi thanked his Turkish counterpart for Turkey's readiness to host the next nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers.

The Turkish minister is scheduled to meet later Thursday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before leaving Iran.