Rohani's long-awaited Turkey visit to take place before Ramadan
While Tehran is remaining tight-lipped on the exact date of Iranian President Hassan Rohani's long-awaited visit to Turkey, his first since taking office last summer, Today's Zaman has learned from a senior Iranian diplomat that the visit will take place before Ramadan.
Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Alireza Bikdeli told Today's Zaman at a reception at the Iranian Embassy in Ankara on Thursday that the Iranian president would be visiting Turkey most probably in June, without elaborating further on the details of the visit.
Bikdeli noted that the date of the visit was discussed during Turkish Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz's Tehran visit a few days ago. Yılmaz had a meeting with senior Iranian officials, including First Vice President Ishaq Jahangir.
Meanwhile, the Iranian diplomat also said an Iranian deputy foreign minister, whose name has not yet been officially announced, will be visiting Turkey prior to Rohani's visit in an effort to prepare the ground for the Iranian president's visit.
Confusion emerged in previous months regarding a visit to Turkey by President Rohani. During his visit to Tehran in late November of last year, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced that Rohani would visit Turkey in December 2013 to attend the Şeb-i Arus ceremony commemorating the death of Sufi mystic and Islamic scholar Mevlana Jelaluddin Muhammad Rumi.
However, it was later announced that rather than the new president, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif would be coming to Turkey. This visit was canceled, though, due to Zarif's tight schedule.
Then, Turkish officials said that Rohani is expected to pay a visit to Turkey in February, right after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Iran, which took place at the end of January.
Iran issued an invitation for Erdoğan to go to Iran before Rohani's yet-to-be-rescheduled visit to Turkey. “Our President Rohani invites Erdoğan to Tehran first,” Zarif said at a joint press conference with Davutoğlu on Dec. 4 of last year.
Visiting Tehran after two years with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations with Iran, Erdoğan came together with Rohani for the first time. He also met with Jahangir and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Davutoğlu, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik and Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz also accompanied Erdoğan on his Tehran visit.
Davutoğlu also met with the Iranian president in late August of last year when he went to Tehran to attend the inauguration of Rohani on behalf of President Abdullah Gül. In addition, Rohani had talks with his Turkish counterpart, Gül, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September of last year.
Despite the different approaches of Turkey and Iran on the Syrian conflict, Ankara and Tehran plan to develop their relationship further.
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