Raeisi: Respect for sovereignty, integrity of other states key in anti-terror fight
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries is the most effective way to counter terrorism.
Raeisi made the remarks in a meeting with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Tehran on Sunday.
Turkey and Syria have been engaged in an ongoing dispute over the presence of Turkish forces in the Arab country.
“The effective exercise of national sovereignty of any government over all its territories is the best way to prevent terrorist and anti-security activities,” Raeisi said.
After over a decade of severed ties between Turkey and Syria, the two neighboring countries are taking steps toward reconciliation.
Turkey deployed forces in Syria in October 2019 in violation of the Arab country’s territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push militants of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Pointing to the cultural and historical commonalities between Iran and Turkey, Raeisi expressed hope that the two countries would improve cooperation during the new presidential term of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He said the joint economic committee between Iran and Turkey would play an effective role in paving the way for increasing commercial interactions between the two countries.
The Iranian president emphasized the importance of effectively dealing with the presence of foreign forces in different regions, including the Caucasus, and said all states in every region should solve their problems through dialogue and cooperation.
Fidan, for his part, said Iran and Turkey have great capacities to expand cooperation and are capable of reaching a $30-billion target set for their annual trade.
Heading a high-ranking delegation, the top Turkish diplomat arrived in Tehran on Sunday and attended a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
