Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday began a controversial first visit to Turkey with talks on the nuclear issue and economic cooperation, reported dpa.
The Iranian leader met his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul following his arrival in the neighbouring country and was also due to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials.
Iran, a country with large gas reserves, wants to expand its cooperation with Turkey in the energy sector. The United States and Israel have warned against such expansion, which, they argue could ease pressure in the nuclear dispute involving Iran.
The international community accuses Iran of secretly developing a nuclear weapons programme. Tehran had repeatedly denied this, saying its nuclear energy programme was for peaceful purposes.
The dispute has seen the United Nations Security Council impose sanctions against Iran for the refusal of its leadership to heed a UN call for an end to its uranium enrichment programme.
Before his departure, Ahmadinejad, in an interview with Turkish television channels, said negotiations in the nuclear dispute were going in the right direction.
Thus far, the Iranian government has been evasive on a proposal from leading world nations, including the US, Britain and China, for comprehensive technical and economic assistance in exchange for Iran's suspension of uranium enrichment.
Turkey, Ahmadinejad said, had no role as mediator between the US and Iran.
The Iranian leader also repeated his earlier verbal attacks on Israel, saying the Jewish state was based on a lie. "If something was done to the Jews in Europe, why do Muslims have to pay the price?" Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
The two-day visit is Ahmadinejad's first to a NATO country. In June he travelled to Rome, but that was in order to attend a summit of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Reports in Ankara said Ahmadinejad's trip had been downgraded to that of a "working visit" as the Iranian leader had not wanted to include a visit to the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.