When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives in Turkey on June 9th, his entourage along with their hosts will point out at every given opportunity the warm ties between the two largest non-Arab states in the Middle East. On the practical level, the governments will sign a series of deals boosting economic cooperation between them – pushing Turkey ever further away from the West.
Minister of Communication, Technology and Information evaluated Iran-Turkey cooperation process, including in energy sector, positive and said that during the upcoming visit of President Rouhani to Ankara, at least six cooperation documents will be signed… On cooperation between Iran and Turkey in the field of energy, Vaezi said that good negotiation had been done in this sector. Turkey is one of the main buyers of Iran’s gas. Vaezi said that Turkey’s officials are interested to increase importing gas from Iran. Concerning possibility of exporting Iran’s gas to Europe through Turkey, Vaezi said that our colleagues are negotiating in this concern. He continued that Iran prefers gas pipe line pass through Turkey’s territory.
In recent years the nations have upped cooperation in “the various fields of economy, security, trade, education, energy and culture,” with bilateral trade reaching more than $2 billion in the first two months of 2014 alone. Annual bilateral trade is expected to pass the $30 billion mark by 2015. However, the good ties between Ankara and Tehran are not restricted to business deals. On a three-monthly basis the sides meet to discuss issues of regional importance. In the latest round of talks held this week in Ankara, the countries discussed Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The two share a border with Iraq. The policy of moving towards Tehran began when Recep Tayyip Erdogan became Turkish prime minister in 2002. He was one of the first to congratulate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he became Iranian president seven years later. This rapprochement has alarmed Turkey’s secularists, who still push for closer ties with the West and membership of the European Union.
[Photo: Adam Jones / flickr]