TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said on Friday that “Zionism” and “terrorism” are the main headaches of the Middle East and the entire Islamic world.

During a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, Rouhani also said “there is no doubt” that terrorism is doomed to failure.

Rouhani who had visited Turkey to participate in the OIC summit urged all Islamic countries to make collective efforts to iron out divisions, resist against Islamophobia, and foil plots being hatched against Islam.

He added, “Problems in the world of Islam should be resolved by Islamic countries and without the foreigners’ intervention.”

The Iranian president also thanked Turkey for hosting the OIC summit, noting that the Islamic body could be a “center of hope” but unfortunately it has not played its role as expected.

“We should all join hands to use this international organization in the interest of boosting solidarity and integrity in the world of Islam,” he suggested.

For his part, Davutoglu said terrorism is a threat to the entire world.

Davutoglu maintained that Turkey is ready to cooperate with Iran in fighting terrorism.

Rouhani also highlighted the necessity of expanding ties between Iran and Turkey in various areas.

On Friday, Rouhani was also officially welcomed by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Rouhani and Erdogan were expected to co-chair the high council of cooperation between Iran and Turkey with some cabinet ministers from the two countries in attendance.

---Tehran, Ankara pen 8 cooperation deals

Also, during the visit, the two sides penned eight memoranda of understanding and cooperation agreements, aiming to give a boost to bilateral ties.

The agreements were in social welfare, politics, economics, culture, and judiciary.  

Under one of the agreements, the sides arranged to prevent cultural heritage trafficking.

Strong ties between Turkey and Iran, as two regional heavyweights powers in the Middle East, are key to regional stability and peace.

Although opposing voices have been hearing from the two capitals about the future of the Syrian government since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict, the two never stopped cementing ties.

“Iran and Turkey have a hundred reasons to cooperate and few to not,” says Kayhan Barzegar, director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran once said.

NA/PA