TEHRAN – The Turkish ambassador to Iran has said that Turkey has taken its relationship with Iran into consideration before entering into any international agreement including the NATO agreement on the establishment of a ballistic missile defense shield in Turkey.

“In any political process, when we are weighing up options, we certainly take account of our relationship with Iran,” Ambassador Umit Yardim said in an interview with the Fars news agency when asked about his judgment on the establishment of a missile defense shield in Turkey near border with Iran.
“It is completely a technical issue. During the Lisbon summit, Turkey transparently expressed its views on the issue. In this process, the most important matter is Iran-Turkey relationship and Turkey expressed its concerns in this regard,” Yardim said.
On the first day of the 2010 Lisbon summit, the heads of state of NATO agreed to establish a missile defense system that would have the capability of covering all member states.
On the reasons why Turkey took part in NATO operation against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously spoken against military intervention in Libya, Yardim said Turkey only took part in the UN humanitarian mission in Libya and did not send any forces on combat mission.
The ambassador also commented that the crisis in Libya can be resolved only through dialogue between hostile Libyan groups, adding no country should meddle in Libya’s internal affairs.