TEHRAN - Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Halit Cevik has advised against foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs, saying that the Syrian people should be left to determine their own destiny. 

 

Cevik made the remarks during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran on Tuesday, a few hours after a meeting of the Iran-Turkey political committee that was chaired by the two countries’ deputy foreign ministers.  

 

“No intervention should be made in Syria, and the country’s people should themselves decide about the future of the country,” the Turkish deputy foreign minister stated, according to the press department of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.  

 

Assuming that Syria govt. would fall is unjustifiable: Salehi  

 

Salehi said that the Islamic Republic regards the implementation of the plan put forward by Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League joint special envoy on Syria, as the only way out of the crisis in the Arab country, 

 

Annan, who formerly served as the secretary general of the United Nations, has put forward a six-point plan for ending the crisis in Syria, which calls for a UN-supervised ceasefire by all parties, the withdrawal of soldiers and heavy weapons from cities, and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

 

“We will support Kofi Annan’s plan,” Salehi stated, adding that Iran wants peace to be restored in Syria. 

 

The Iranian foreign minister went on to say that assuming that the Syrian government would be ousted is “unjustifiable”. 

 

Elsewhere in his remarks, Salehi emphasized Turkey’s important status in the region and said that the continuation of consultations between officials of the two countries can help efforts meant to restore peace in the region. 

 

He also commented on relations between the two countries and expressed hope that ties would develop through further cooperation between Tehran and Ankara. 

 

Iran-Turkey trade expected to surpass $20b soon  

 

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian and Oceanian Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that it is expected that the value of trade exchanges between Iran and Turkey would surpass $20 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, March 20.   

 

The unfair sanctions that the West has imposed on Iran have provided an opportunity for faster development of relations between Iran and Turkey, added Araqchi, who is the Iranian director of the Iran-Turkey political committee.  

 

EP/PA