Erdoğan visits Iran, nuclear deal expected to develop bilateral ties

[-SINAN-]

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is paying an official visit to Iran to attend the Second Turkey-Iran High Level Cooperation Council and to handle bilateral relations regarding regional and international developments. While Erdoğan is expected to hold separate meetings with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is also among those with whom Erdoğan will meet in the capital Tehran.

Tensions have grown between the countries following the harsh criticism levied by Erdoğan against Iran regarding the country's involvement in the region and the visit has become a matter of debate in Iran. Last Sunday, 65 deputies from the Iranian parliament urged Rouhani to seriously warn Erdoğan over his latest statements about Iran. However, Erdoğan indicated before that it is Turkey that will decide about the future of the visit, and said: "They are not the ones who will decide on our visit. Indeed, we will. We are protecting our schedule and we are following Yemen."

The official state-run Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Sunday: "The head of the Iran-Turkey Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation Mahmoud Vaezi said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is to pay an official visit to Iran on Tuesday." The first meeting of the council was held on June 9, 2014, in Ankara and was co-chaired by Erdoğan, prime minister at the time, and Rouhani.

Adnan Tabatabai, an Iranian political analyst from the Berlin-based think-tank Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO), underlined that the removal of sanctions following the nuclear deal signed between the P5+1 and Iran necessarily brings better Turkish-Iranian economic ties. "I think Iran and Turkey have been good partners in trade despite the sanctions regime imposed on Iran. But there is no doubt that an economically strengthened Iran through sanctions relief can be a stronger partner for Turkey. Without sanctions and politically delicate issues, cooperation with Iran will become more beneficial for Turkey."

Tabatabai said: "I therefore believe it is in the interest of Ankara to support the process toward the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, i.e., a final nuclear agreement to be achieved by the end of June.

The four-year civil war in Syria is still a source of conflict between the two countries. While Turkey maintains that Syrian President Bashar Assad has lost legitimacy since killing thousands of Syrians and causing many to flee to neighboring countries as refugees, Iran is known as an ardent supporter of Assad and backs the regime financially, militarily and politically.

Yet Tabatabai believes that there is potential for regional cooperation between Turkey and Iran and areas of cooperation must be explored in a careful manner. "The region of the Middle East is in dire need of regional cooperation. I see good reasons for Turkey and Iran to highlight common interests in terms of security, environmental issues, tourism as well as trade. If these grounds are explored in a meaningful manner, a constructive cooperation can evolve. As neighboring countries, this is in the direct interest of the Turkish and Iranian people," he said.

Erdoğan's visit is the first presidential-level visit to Iran from Turkey after a four-year hiatus. Between February 13 and February 16, 2011, former President Abdullah Gül paid an official visit to the country upon the invitation of then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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I was not expecting sanctions to be lifted under the mullah regime. I think, bilateral trade will soar in the near future.

 

[rmi5]

@yavar As long as gas export is concerned, Iran already has gas pipelines built to Russia, and during Shah's era, Iran started to export gas through USSR, which was passing through Azerbaijan SSR. Russians also bought some of the gas(for swapping) and built steel factories of Isfahan, and helped in finance of Tractor factory in Tabriz, in return. The railroad project is started, but it's not finished yet. The remaining part is the Qazvin-Astara in Iranian soil which should be finished in the next 2-3 years. Also, If you remember, when conflict between Iran and Turkey happened about trucks and custom fees, Iranian trucks chose the path from Azerbaijan-Russia, as well. I guess there are projects to build highways besides the railroad(for trucks, ...) as well, but I don't know about their progress. In Iran's side, Highways are already finished to Rasht and Miyaneh and Jolfa though.
BTW, Iran also had studies on a plan to export gas through Iraq-Syria-Greece to europe, which wahabi invasion from Turkey and KSA to Syria has hindered it, I guess.

 

[yavar]

@yavar As long as gas export is concerned, Iran already has gas pipelines built to Russia, and during Shah's era, Iran started to export gas through USSR, which was passing through Azerbaijan SSR. Russians also bought some of the gas(for swapping) and built steel factories of Isfahan, and helped in finance of Tractor factory in Tabriz, in return. The railroad project is started, but it's not finished yet. The remaining part is the Qazvin-Astara in Iranian soil which should be finished in the next 2-3 years. Also, If you remember, when conflict between Iran and Turkey happened about trucks and custom fees, Iranian trucks chose the path from Azerbaijan-Russia, as well. I guess there are projects to build highways besides the railroad(for trucks, ...) as well, but I don't know about their progress. In Iran's side, Highways are already finished to Rasht and Miyaneh and Jolfa though.
BTW, Iran also had studies on a plan to export gas through Iraq-Syria-Greece to europe, which wahabi invasion from Turkey and KSA to Syria has hindered it, I guess.

at end of day Iran trust Azerbaijan more than any other muslim country .
Azerbaijani with whatever we think about it Israel basses there or drone basses or mossad basses in there +++++++
is not fully occupied by west or Israel or Russia or Turkey so Azerbaijan still has its little independence from time to time unlike most muslim countries so Iran has no choose to be on some sort of agreement with Azerbaijan

 

[rmi5]

at end of day Iran trust Azerbaijan more than any other muslim country .
Azerbaijani with whatever we think about it Israel basses there or drone basses or mossad basses in there +++++++
is not fully occupied by west or Israel or Russia or Turkey so Azerbaijan still has its little independence from time to time unlike most muslim countries so Iran has no choose to be on some sort of agreement with Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan prefers to play with all sides, and have some sort of friendship with all sides. It's something that I call being actively neutral. Azerbaijan is surrounded by some big countries who oppose each other, so being opposing to some of them is not logical. During elcibey, he chose a polarized policy which made Russians and Iranians against Azerbaijan. It was a big mistake. Aliyevs on the other hand, have tried to have good relations with all regional countries, east and west while making a strong internal economy. While Azerbaijani administration has had meetings with Iranian officials repeatedly, they have had meetings with Turkey, Israel, Russia, Dubai and Saudi as well. Now, the oil runs through Turkey, tanks, and helicopters are imported from Russia, advanced military equipments and technology are imported from Israel, and Azerbaijanis can visit Iran(Tabriz, Imam Reza shrine(Mashhad), Tehran, ...) with no visa. BTW, Azerbaijan is also against the spread of terrorism in the region. When ISIS invaded Iraq, Azerbaijan started to have meetings with Iran and supported removal of terrorists from Iraq.

 

[atatwolf]

Azerbaijan prefers to play with all sides, and have some sort of friendship with all sides. It's something that I call being actively neutral. Azerbaijan is surrounded by some big countries who oppose each other, so being opposing to some of them is not logical. During elcibey, he chose a polarized policy which made Russians and Iranians against Azerbaijan. It was a big mistake. Aliyevs on the other hand, have tried to have good relations with all regional countries, east and west while making a strong internal economy. While Azerbaijani administration has had meetings with Iranian officials repeatedly, they have had meetings with Turkey, Israel, Russia, Dubai and Saudi as well. Now, the oil runs through Turkey, tanks, and helicopters are imported from Russia, advanced military equipments and technology are imported from Israel, and Azerbaijanis can visit Iran(Tabriz, Imam Reza shrine(Mashhad), Tehran, ...) with no visa. BTW, Azerbaijan is also against the spread of terrorism in the region. When ISIS invaded Iraq, Azerbaijan started to have meetings with Iran and supported removal of terrorists from Iraq.

Azerbaijan is following the same doctrine Turkey is following which is having good relations with all neighbors to secure independence. Since its independence its only threat was Armenia-Iran axis.The tension between Azerbaijan and Iran is rising again. Some Iranian officials are accusing Azerbaijan of being to close to Israel. Iran is still supporting Armenia against Azerbaijan. For Azerbaijan, Azeri-Iran relations is like the relationship between Hitler-Stalin: "keep your friends close but your keep enemies closer." Azerbaijan's border with Russia and Georgia is pretty secured. There are great relations economically and militarily. The only danger that can come to Azerbaijan is from the Mullah who will try to create proxies in Azerbaijan to have the a Yemen-like situation. It is important that the Mullah get their nose broken in Yemen, if not Azerbaijan will be the next target. Read this:

The Iranian propaganda called the ambassador of Azerbaijan in the USA “Jew” and “Zionist” | Ali Hajizade | The Blogs | The Times of Israel

 

[rmi5]

Azerbaijan is following the same doctrine Turkey is following which is having good relations with all neighbors to secure independence. Since its independence its only threat was Armenia-Iran axis.The tension between Azerbaijan and Iran is rising again. Some Iranian officials are accusing Azerbaijan of being to close to Israel. Iran is still supporting Armenia against Azerbaijan. For Azerbaijan, Azeri-Iran relations is like the relationship between Hitler-Stalin: "keep your enemies close but your keep enemies closer." Azerbaijan's border with Russia and Georgia is pretty secured. There are great relations economically and militarily. The only danger that can come to Azerbaijan is from the Mullah who will try to create proxies in Azerbaijan to have the a Yemen-like situation.

The Iranian propaganda called the ambassador of Azerbaijan in the USA “Jew” and “Zionist” | Ali Hajizade | The Blogs | The Times of Israel

The difference is that now Turkey has deep problems with all of her neighbors(Iran, Iraq, kurds, Syria, Greece, Russians) while Azerbaijan don't. The reason is that there is a big difference between talks, and what one does in reality.

In reality, Aliyevs(both Heydar, and Ilham Aliyev) have tried to be moderate instead of wishing for establishing imaginary caliphates or empires. what matters is actions not talks. I know enough about Iran and Turkey to know that many things that their officials are saying, are not what they do in reality. Not their friendship chants, neither their hatred chants.

Erdogan is not going to be better than anyone else for Azerbaijan. He showed his true face when shiite turkmens in Iraq(they are basically Azerbaijani, and speak southern accent of our Azeri language) were massacred by his arab friends. There is no reason that any of our neighbors are better than the other one or they genuinely care about us why should they? what matters for anyone in international politics is money and interests.

That's why I prefer neutrality policy. Still I prefer Azeri policy(being actively neutral) over Turkmenistani policy(being Passively neutral) but I am not sure about it, maybe being passively neutral works better for Turkmenistan.

 

[like_a_boss]

keep your enemies close but your keep enemies closer

well said

 

[rmi5]

well said

?

 

[atatwolf]

The difference is that now Turkey has deep problems with all of her neighbors(Iran, Iraq, kurds, Syria, Greece, Russians) while Azerbaijan don't. The reason is that there is a big difference between talks, and what one does in reality.

Turkey has more neighbors. So it is impossible to compare that to Azerbaijan. It would be better to compare Turkey to Iran in terms of relations.

Turkish relations:
Russia: unprecedented good relations. Business is booming. Russia is building nuclear plants in Turkey. Military and economic relations is advancing on multiple fronts.

Greece: relations are good. I don't know why you think Turkey has problems with Greece.

Syria: we have good relations with Syrian people. There are over 2 milion people in Turkey. Turkey spends all its money on them while Iran is spending all his money on Assad to murder them.

Iraq: very good relations. If you read recent press releases I don't have to add anything more to that.

Iran: Iran has problems with all of its neighbors. So I don't get why you put Iran as a country we have problems with.

Iran's foreign relations:
It is better to say with which countries Iran has good relations? Houthi's and Assad

Erdogan is not going to be better than anyone else for Azerbaijan. He showed his true face when shiite turkmens in Iraq(they are basically Azerbaijani, and speak southern accent of our Azeri language) were massacred by his arab friends. There is no reason that any of our neighbors are better than the other one or they genuinely care about us why should they? what matters for anyone in international politics is money and interests.

You shouldn't talk for Azerbaijan since they don't think like you. Only way to help Turkmen was to invade whole of Iraq. Just couple of airstrikes won't help. If Turkey would have done that(invading Iraq), it would be attacked by Iranians proxies. No offense but you are ignorant about the situation in the middle-east. If you really want to look at who cares for human lives and who is not you should look at who is spending all their money on 5 milion refugees and why Iran is spending all their money on Assad to further kill Syrians. ISIS is created by Assad who kept bombing the people. In the beginning there was no ISIS. If Iran didn't support Assad, then ISIS wouldn't get that big.

well said

In case of Iran, yes indeed

 

[Azeri440]

at end of day Iran trust Azerbaijan more than any other muslim country .
Azerbaijani with whatever we think about it Israel basses there or drone basses or mossad basses in there +++++++
is not fully occupied by west or Israel or Russia or Turkey so Azerbaijan still has its little independence from time to time unlike most muslim countries so Iran has no choose to be on some sort of agreement with Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has no Israeli bases on its land , or any other foreign base on its land.
Mossad helped Azerbaijan deal with threats such as terrorism and etc.

 

[rmi5]

آقای خامنه ای امروز هجدهم فروردین (هفتم آوریل) در دیدار با رجب طیب اردوغان، رئیس جمهور ترکیه که برای سفری رسمی در تهران به سر می برد از ظهور داعش (گروه موسوم به دولت اسلامی) در منطقه و حمله نظامی به یمن انتقاد کرده و گفته "واقعیت تأسف‌بار این است که برخی از حکومت های اسلامی خیانت می‌کنند و پول و امکانات خود را در خدمت دشمن قرار می‌دهند."

آیت الله خامنه ای 'برخی از حکومت های اسلامی' را به 'خیانت' متهم کرد - BBC Persian

Backstabbers whom are referred to? http://cdncms.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/2015/04/07/208690_newsdetail.jpg

 

[-SINAN-]

@yavar

Iran is interested in purchasing a stake in the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), the President of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters Apr. 4.

He said SOCAR stands ready to consider the offers for the sale of a part of its share in TANAP.

"TANAP is so profitable that the other options of transferring the share can't be a topic of discussion. Here one can talk only about its sale," said Abdullayev. "If we get a good advantageous offer, we are ready to discuss this issue."
He added that there are already such proposals.

IranOilGas Network News: Iran can acquire stake in TANAP: SOCAR

 

[yavar]

@yavar

Iran is interested in purchasing a stake in the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), the President of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters Apr. 4.

He said SOCAR stands ready to consider the offers for the sale of a part of its share in TANAP.

"TANAP is so profitable that the other options of transferring the share can't be a topic of discussion. Here one can talk only about its sale," said Abdullayev. "If we get a good advantageous offer, we are ready to discuss this issue."
He added that there are already such proposals.

IranOilGas Network News: Iran can acquire stake in TANAP: SOCAR

look what you just posted . what does it said : Iran is interested
meaning Iran like past 6 years only talking BS . Iran it says it is intersted in any things but does it mean it realy going to do it

now look mine
Iran ready to supply Europe with natural gas: Official
Majedi also stated that the third route would be a pipeline that runs through Armenia, Georgia and under the Black Sea.

PressTV-‘Iran ready to export gas to Europe’

meaning Iran already has has already negotiated with these countries and the construction is under way if you did know . talking is cheap . action speaks louder than words

the turkish bypass is underway and been on the agenda now for few years . you only fooling yourself like Pakistan did .

 

[-SINAN-]

now look mine

Iran ready to transfer Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan gas to Europe


PressTV-Iran offers EU gas transfer route

Iran ready to supply Europe with natural gas: Official
Majedi also stated that the third route would be a pipeline that runs through Armenia, Georgia and under the Black Sea.

PressTV-‘Iran ready to export gas to Europe’

Both of your sources says, pipeline would be through Turkey ???

Okay, maybe, i'm dumb and can't understand what you are trying to say. Anyways lets leave it here, it seems that we can't understand each other.

 

[atatwolf]

Both of your sources says, pipeline would be through Turkey ???

Okay, maybe, i'm dumb and can't understand what you are trying to say. Anyways lets leave it here, it seems that we can't understand each other.

He thinks Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazkahstan will leave the existing on-going projects and go with Iran . Even if those Turkic countries make a pipeline to Iran. Iran wouldn't be able to transfer it to Europe. Iran will get into big troubles in the future. Iranian gas will be replaced by Turkic and Israeli gas.