TEHRAN – Turkish Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Murat Mercan said here on Tuesday that Ankara and Tehran play a major role in promoting peace and security in the region.

“Turkey and Iran have a great responsibility for establishing peace and durable security in the region,” Mercan said in a meeting with Iranian MP Ali-Akbar Aqaii, the chairman of the Iran-Turkey parliamentary friendship group.
Aqaii stated that the two countries should increase their security and economic cooperation.
Relations between the two Muslim and neighborly countries of Iran and Turkey foster peace and friendship in the region, the Iranian lawmaker noted.
Joint campaign against terrorism
In a separate meeting with the visiting Turkish top lawmaker, Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel expressed satisfaction over security cooperation between Iran and Turkey and insisted that Tehran is prepared for any kind of cooperation with Ankara in the fight against terrorism.
Haddad-Adel also said Iran and Turkey, as two powerful countries in the region and the Islamic world, have a common responsibility about the destiny of Muslims especially in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
He said the presence of foreign troops in Iraq has fueled terrorist acts in the country and this would require further cooperation between the two countries to reverse the situation.
Mercan also said Iran and Turkey share common views toward developments in Iraq.
“The instability in Iraq would harm the regional countries more than others and cooperation between Iran and Turkey on developments in Iraq would help regional peace and security,” Mercan explained.
Powerful Turkey in Iran’s interest
A powerful and modern Turkey is in Iran’s interest, Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said.
The current level of economic cooperation between Tehran and Ankara is unexampled in the history of the two countries’ relations, Mottaki stated in his meeting with the Turkish Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman.
The top diplomat added the extended cooperation in oil and gas industry can serve as a model for expansion of relations in other fields.
Energy cooperation
Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaedin Borujerdi said the participation of Turkish companies in Iranian oil and gas projects would give a major boost to Iran-Turkey economic cooperation.
In his meeting with Mercan, Borujerdi also hailed the two countries’ cooperation in the framework of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
Pointing to the security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iranian MP said that cooperation between the two countries could play an important role in solving regional problems and helping to establish security in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The presence of foreign troops in Iraq has increased insecurity in the country and setting a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from the country would be an effective measure for restoring peace to the war-torn country,” he said.
He also called for a joint campaign against drug production in Afghanistan.
--------Nuclear transparency
On Iran’s nuclear case, the Iranian parliamentarian said the recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report released on Dec. 3 suggested that Iran has been truthful in its declarations about the nuclear program.
Describing drug trafficking as a global problem, the Turkish official said that the establishment of a strong government in Afghanistan would be a significant step in efforts to increase security to the country.
Mercan also noted that Turkey is concerned about the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and regional states like Iran and Turkey should help to establish security in the country.