TEHRAN – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu arrived in Tehran on Monday and met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian. The two ministers discussed a range of issues.

The meeting was held at the Iranian foreign ministry and was attended by a number of Iranian and Turkish officials along with the two countries' foreign ministers. 

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After the meeting, Amir Abdollahian and Cavusoglu held a joint press conference. During the presser, the Iranian foreign minister said he had a useful and important discussion with his Turkish counterpart. 

“Today, we had useful and important talks on the development of relations between the two countries. We agreed on expert talks with diplomats from both sides to draw up a new roadmap for long-term cooperation between Tehran and Ankara,” Amir Abdollahian said, noting, “We hope that in the future visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran, we will be able to finalize the document containing the roadmap for long-term cooperation between the two countries.”

He added, “We agreed to start our diplomatic talks on the provisions of the roadmap for long-term cooperation between the two countries, and we hope that this document will be signed in the presence of the presidents of the two countries during the next visit of the Turkish president to Iran.”

The Iranian foreign minister noted, “We had useful and good discussions on various regional and international issues.”

Amir Abdollahian said his talks with Cavusoglu focused on developments in Afghanistan, the need to develop stability, security and calm in the West Asian region and to pay attention to the neighborliness policy of the two countries. He added that they underlined that the Iranian and Turkish governments are "pragmatic" and that they “must quickly remove any possible obstacles in the way of relations between the two countries.”

The Iranian foreign minister said, “In this meeting, we reached joint mechanisms to accelerate bilateral cooperation. There is a lot of potential in the field of mutual investments and private sector activities in both countries. At the same time, limited obstacles and problems were identified in the path of the two countries' traders, and we agreed to take the necessary action as soon as possible.”

He added, “The relations between the two countries are historical, friendly and cordial, and we will pay special attention to these historical and deep relations between the two countries in the development of cooperation.”

Amir Abdollahian continued, “In today's talks, we paid special attention to the development of economic and trade cooperation and the increase of cooperation in the field of energy, the facilitation of transit traffic and the strengthening of cross-border trade and consular issues, and fortunately we do not see any serious obstacles to accelerating this cooperation.”

He added, “What has overshadowed some of the bilateral relations over the past two years is due to the coronavirus conditions prevailing in the world.”

The Iranian foreign minister also noted that the issue of environmental protection and dealing with environmental threats, which is one of the concerns of the world today, is of interest to both countries.

The Turkish foreign minister, in turn, voiced Turkey’s readiness to develop relations with Iran. “Turkey is always ready to provide any services with its brother. As Mr. Amir Abdollahian said, we reviewed the development of cooperation in all areas, and at the same time today, we talked with my brother Hussein between the delegations to prepare the seventh High Cooperation Council between the two countries. And at the suggestion of the Iranian side, a long-term roadmap between the two countries will be prepared and signed on the sidelines of the council,” Cavusoglu said. 

He added, “Various documents on illegal immigration, smuggling and other border issues were discussed. This year, the volume of trade has increased by 71%, which is promising, but we are far from our goals and we need to do more. We are considering the expansion of preferential trade frameworks between the two countries and we are trying to bring the 6-year negotiations to this conclusion.”

He also said that sanctions against Iran are “cruel” and the sides about it. “Those who left the JCPOA must return to this framework and lift the unilateral sanctions they imposed on Iran. I would like to congratulate you on the start of the talks and I hope that the talks in Vienna will be successful,” the Turkish foreign minister said.

He continued, “Currently, there is cooperation between the two countries not only on bilateral issues but also on regional issues such as Afghanistan, Iraq and stability in the South Caucasus. We are ready to cooperate with Iran in the framework of the proposed 3+3 format.”

The 3+3 format includes Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia and their three big neighbors- Russia, Turkey, and Iran. The format is intended to end territorial disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

The top Turkish went on to say that “we are for stability in Iraq and we condemn the attack on the Iraqi Prime Minister. Regarding Syria, we hope to hold high-level meetings. We are in line with Iran about Afghanistan and its stability. We are very concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the humanitarian situation in this country, and we believe that the establishment of an inclusive government can be the solution.”

Commenting on the Turkish president’s upcoming visit to Iran, Cavusoglu said, “This trip will take place before the end of the year and we must make the necessary preparations. In Iran and Turkey, result-oriented governments are at work, and this trip is not just for a meeting, but to accelerate relations between the two countries.”