Iran and Turkey to cooperate for a peaceful Middle East

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul promised to cooperate to put an end to the conflicts in the Middle East, especially in Syria, and restore stability to the region, during meetings held in Turkey yesterday.

The Iranian president’s visit to Ankara is the first of its kind in 18 years, not since 1996 has an Iranian president visited Turkey.

Turkey, which did not get what it expected from Rouhani’s visit, economically or politically, spoke frankly about missed opportunities which delayed economic cooperation between the two countries.

Gul said: “Turkey and Iran can become like France and Germany in their economic cooperation. The two countries signed cooperation agreements, but it is important to implement them, we faced obstacles in this regard previously.”

The two sides signed 10 cooperation agreements in the areas of border and transportation, tourism and communications during Rouhani’s visit.

Rohauni said he believed the agreements would allow an increase in trade between the two countries to $30 billion annually.