Head of Turkey-Iran friendship group talks ties, Syria

By Mustafa Melih Ahishali

TEHRAN (AA) - Yusuf Beyazit, Turkish ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party lawmaker and chairman of the Turkey-Iran Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group, spoke to Anadolu Agency on Tuesday about the deep historical bonds between the two countries and the need for improved bilateral ties.

Beyazit, who is now in Tehran for talks with Iranian officials, recalled Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent visit to Iran, where he discussed economic, political and security issues with Iranian leaders.

Stressing that Iran and Turkey had both given rise to great civilizations, he asserted: “We [members of the friendship group] try to achieve the goals set by both the Turkish and Iranian leadership.”

Beyazit went on to voice the group’s disapproval of western intervention in the region.

“Regional problems should be resolved by the countries of the region,” he said.

On Turkey-Iran economic relations, he said: “We hope to increase the total bilateral trade volume to $30 billion. We have recently taken steps to keep our three [Turkey-Iran] border crossings operating 24 hours a day.”

“The use of our own national currencies to conduct commercial transactions between Iran and Turkey will put an end to pressures caused by the dollar,” Beyazit said, stressing the friendship group’s commitment to removing bureaucratic obstacles to bilateral trade.

-Region crises

In regard to the crises the Middle East region now faces, Beyazit said Turkey, like Iran, supported the preservation of Iraq’s and Syria’s territorial integrity and rejected last month’s illegitimate referendum on Kurdish regional independence.

Beyazit, who also heads up the Turkish parliament’s national defense committee, also spoke up for the rights of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

“There are some 3.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey right now,” he said. “Their rights should be guaranteed and respected.”

Noting that his recent meeting with Ali Mutahhari, vice-president of Iran’s parliament, had been “very productive”, Beyazit pointed out that Iranian First VP Eshaq Jahangiri would visit Istanbul later this month for a D-8 Summit, on the sidelines of which he planned to hold talks with Turkish PM Binali Yildirim.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara