Turkey, Iran presidents discuss Syria, strained tieshttp://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=289666 via @todayszamancom
5:52 PM - 16 Aug 12 via Tweet Button · Details
Turkey, Iran presidents discuss Syria, strained ties
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and Turkish President Abdullah Gül meets in Mecca, KSA, on Wednesday. (Photo: Cihan)
15 August 2012 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM,
The Turkish and Iranian presidents met in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on the sidelines of a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), largely to discuss 17 months of unceasing violence in Syria and bilateral ties between their two countries which have hit rock bottom recently.
Sources close to the Turkish president said Turkish President Abdullah Gül expressed concern over violence in Syria to his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Exchanging views on ways to end violence that has now left more than 20,000 people killed, Gül and Ahmadinejad discussed steps they needed to take to find a settlement to the political crisis in the country.
A series of unusually sharp statements in the past week from both Turkey and Iran have brought relations between the two neighbors -- which were improving until recently even at the expense of angering Turkey's NATO ally the United States -- to what one may call a historic low.
Iran also suspended a visa-free travel regime with Turkey, which has been in force since 1964, citing security concerns in the run-up to a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran.
A series of unusually sharp statements in the past week from both Turkey and Iran have brought relations between the two neighbors -- which were improving until recently even at the expense of angering Turkey's NATO ally the United States -- to what one may call a historic low.
Iran also suspended a visa-free travel regime with Turkey, which has been in force since 1964, citing security concerns in the run-up to a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran.
