Turkey, May 10: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Syria and Qatar back Ankara’s efforts to solve Iran’s nuclear issue through diplomacy.
Davutoglu’s comment came after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, held three-way talks in Istanbul on Sunday to discuss regional affairs.
Turkey’s top diplomat stated that the Syrian and Qatari leaders both supported Ankara’s efforts to mediate between Western powers and Iran, among them a proposal to host talks over Tehran’s nuclear activities, Anatolia news agency reported.
“The three countries condemned recent rhetoric and actions raising tensions in the region… They emphasized support for all efforts aimed at regional peace and stability,” the minister was quoted as saying.
Davutoglu said Friday he had proposed to host talks between top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, as a representative of the so-called P5+1 group, which consists of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China) and Germany.
Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani also arrived in Istanbul for a three-day visit and held talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Turkey and Brazil, both non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, have stepped up their efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear issue.
—-Agencies