Turkey's state minister for foreign trade has said economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran would have no binding effect on Turkey's trade deals with its eastern neighbor, Anadolu News Agency reported.
"The U.S. sanctions on Iran only bind the U.S. itself. Turkey will follow the UN's orders over its own sanctions on Iran," Zafer Caglayan told reporters in a press meeting in Ankara on Tuesday.
Caglayan said Turkey and Iran had a long-standing relationship with "its roots deep in the history. And we have no such duty as defending Iran on behalf of the country."
Caglayan said Turkey was sensitive over peaceful use of nuclear energy, adding however that Turkey opposed any such of nuclear power other than for peaceful purposes.
Caglayan recalled that the U.S. included on a black three companies with Turkish partners making business with Iran, adding that those companies sold Iran aluminium and high quality steel.
"There are no bans imposed by Turkey on those companies. There are strict rules as to how companies operate in Turkey. Turkey is a rule of law," Caglayan said.
Caglayan said Turkey had a trade volume of 10 billion U.S. dollars annually, adding that the two countries aimed at boosting that figure to as high as 30 billion USD.
"Think it as if it is trade that U.S. does with its neighbors, Mexico and Canada. Twenty-three percent of the trade in the world is done between adjacent countries. And we have a long border and good neighborly relations with Iran which will last forever," Caglayan said.