Azerbaijan, Baku, April 3 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Iran and Turkey have close strategic ties, which will not be affected by their different views towards various issues, Iranian expert on Iran-Turkey relations, Tehran University professor of political science Ahmad Jansiz told Trend.
Professor was commenting on the latest tensions between Iran and Turkey, and how they can affect the upcoming "Iran-Six powers" talks.
A few days ago Turkey announced that it would reduce the oil import from Iran by 20 percent. Following such statement, yesterday Iranian media reported citing some Iranian officials that the "Iran-Six powers" meeting might be hosted elsewhere, like in Baghdad or Beirut. Thus far, Istanbul is set as the place for talks, with the exact date still being unconfirmed.
The scheduled talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) provide the best opportunity to break the nine-year deadlock over Iran's nuclear program.
Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is peaceful and rejects U.S. and European allegations that it is secretly amassing the capability to produce atomic weapons. Iran has rejected Security Council demands that it halt enrichment and other sensitive nuclear work, saying it has a sovereign right to atomic energy.
This has led to four rounds of increasingly stringent U.N. Security Council sanctions, mostly focusing on Iran's nuclear and missile industries, but also targeting some financial institutions, a few subsidiaries of its major shipping firm, and companies linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Jansiz noted that it is a common thing in diplomatic games that countries have different views on different issues.
"Iran has very little contact with Western countries. Turkey on the contrary has good relations with the U.S. and other European countries," Jansiz noted. "Iran is an islamic country, while Turkey is a secular state, and has relations with Israel and other U.S. allies. With all this, Iran and Turkey have common cultural ties, and good neigboring relations".
Jansiz noted that Iran is a powerful country in the Middle East, and that no important issue in the Middle East can be solved without Iran's involvement.
"Regarding the Syrian issue, both Iran and Turkey have different positions. However, a common goal for both countries is that they both wish for peace in the region and the world," he underscored.
More than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the breakout of a popular uprising against country's president Assad in March 2011, the UN has estimated.
A few days ago, the "Friends of Syria" group meeting was held in Turkey, to which Iran was not invited. First such meeting took place in Tunisia on Feb. 24.