Turkey willing to host US-Iran talks
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 13, 2008 00:00
ISTANBUL - As the next US President Barack Obama says he is open to dialogue with Iran, Turkey steps up to pave the way. PM Erdoğan says Turkey could mediate between Iran and US amid concerns on growing energy demands and military confrontation that would destabilize the region
Turkey wants to mediate between the new Obama administration and Iran, using its growing role in the Middle East to bridge the divide between the East and West, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the New York Times in an interview published yesterday.
Erdoğan said Obama's election opened new opportunities for a shift in relations between the United States and Iran. Obama said during his election campaign that he would consider holding talks with Iran, something the Bush administration has long opposed.
"We are ready to be the mediator," Erdoğan said, ahead of a visit to the United States to attend a meeting about the global economic crisis. "I do believe we could be very useful."
"We watch the relations between Iran and the U.S. with great concern," he said. "We expect such issues to be resolved at the table. Wars are never solutions in this age."
The United Nations has placed Iran under sanctions for a nuclear program that the United States and other nations say is an attempt to develop a nuclear bomb. Iran says the project is peaceful. Turkey supports the position of its Western allies, but argues that the sanctions are weakening Iranian reformists.
Turkey fears an economically and politically isolated Iran, which supplies it with its principal alternative to Russian energy. It also wants to avoid another military conflict on its borders.
Turkey does not want another Iraq
"They are deathly afraid of what might come," a Western official told the New York Times on condition of anonymity. "They don't want a repeat of Iraq."
Turkey argues that it is uniquely positioned to facilitate talks between Washington and Tehran. It is a NATO member, and it secured a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council last month. It is a Muslim country that has renewed relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors in recent years, scoring a success this year by bringing Israel and Syria together for talks that had been frozen for years.
But Western officials are skeptical that Turkey, a member of the Western alliance, could succeed as an impartial moderator between Washington and Tehran. Turkey's relationship with Iran is complex Ğ the nations have energy and cultural ties but vie for political influence in the region. And despite the Islamic tint of Erdogan's government, Iran has deep ideological differences with Turkey, which is constitutionally secular.
"They know that being a mediator between the West and Iran is really risky," the Western official said. "It's going to put them in the wrong place."
Still, with a new American administration, and a president-elect who has expressed his intent to make broad changes in foreign policy, there might be opportunities."The ice will start shifting again in interesting and different ways," the official said.
Erdoğan said Obama's election opened new opportunities for a shift in relations between the United States and Iran. Obama said during his election campaign that he would consider holding talks with Iran, something the Bush administration has long opposed.
"We are ready to be the mediator," Erdoğan said, ahead of a visit to the United States to attend a meeting about the global economic crisis. "I do believe we could be very useful."
"We watch the relations between Iran and the U.S. with great concern," he said. "We expect such issues to be resolved at the table. Wars are never solutions in this age."
The United Nations has placed Iran under sanctions for a nuclear program that the United States and other nations say is an attempt to develop a nuclear bomb. Iran says the project is peaceful. Turkey supports the position of its Western allies, but argues that the sanctions are weakening Iranian reformists.
Turkey fears an economically and politically isolated Iran, which supplies it with its principal alternative to Russian energy. It also wants to avoid another military conflict on its borders.
Turkey does not want another Iraq
"They are deathly afraid of what might come," a Western official told the New York Times on condition of anonymity. "They don't want a repeat of Iraq."
Turkey argues that it is uniquely positioned to facilitate talks between Washington and Tehran. It is a NATO member, and it secured a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council last month. It is a Muslim country that has renewed relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors in recent years, scoring a success this year by bringing Israel and Syria together for talks that had been frozen for years.
But Western officials are skeptical that Turkey, a member of the Western alliance, could succeed as an impartial moderator between Washington and Tehran. Turkey's relationship with Iran is complex Ğ the nations have energy and cultural ties but vie for political influence in the region. And despite the Islamic tint of Erdogan's government, Iran has deep ideological differences with Turkey, which is constitutionally secular.
"They know that being a mediator between the West and Iran is really risky," the Western official said. "It's going to put them in the wrong place."
Still, with a new American administration, and a president-elect who has expressed his intent to make broad changes in foreign policy, there might be opportunities."The ice will start shifting again in interesting and different ways," the official said.