IRAN MEDIATION PROSPECTS GAIN MOMENTUM WITH KEY VISITS

Zaman Online
July 17 2008
Turkey

Babacan met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines
of a summit of eight Muslim nations in Malaysia earlier this month.

Ankara is preparing to host senior Iranian and US officials this week
as prospects increase that Turkey may take up a mediation role to
help resolve an international conflict over Tehran’s nuclear program,
which the West suspects is intended to develop nuclear weapons.

Stephen Hadley, national security advisor for US President George
W. Bush, will meet with President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on a number of what
US Embassy officials described as "routine" issues, including Iran’s
nuclear program, today in Ankara. Tomorrow Ankara will host Iranian
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to discuss regional issues. The
visits by two senior officials come as prospects emerge for Turkish
mediation between Iran and the international community, which is
urging the Islamic republic to halt its contentious nuclear program.

"We are in touch with all parties involved. They tell us that we
should also be in the picture," Foreign Minister Babacan said in
televised remarks on the Iran row yesterday. He told NTV that Turkey is
playing a defined role in efforts for peace between Syria and Israel,
referring to Ankara’s mediation in indirect talks between the two
mutually hostile states, while on Iran, it is playing an "unnamed"
role, without elaborating.

Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, will meet with European Union
foreign policy chief Javier Solana and envoys from China, Russia,
France, Britain and Germany in Geneva on Saturday. In a major policy
shift, the United States said it was also sending a representative,
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, to
the talks.

They will discuss Iran’s response to an offer made by world powers
last month to encourage it to give up sensitive nuclear work that the
West believes is aimed at building a nuclear bomb and Tehran says is
for peaceful power-generation purposes.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that Ankara might
be asked to play a role in the Iran nuclear row similar to the role
it is playing in Syria-Israel peace efforts. Turkey has hosted three
rounds of indirect talks between Syrian and Israeli representatives
in recent months, and a fourth round is expected to take place in
the next few weeks, according to Babacan.

Babacan, who had closed-door talks with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of a summit of eight Muslim nations in
Malaysia earlier this month, described the lack of trust between Iran
and the international community as a main reason why the conflict
cannot be resolved. "We, as Turkey, believe that dialogue is the
main means for reaching a settlement in this dispute," he said,
emphasizing that he has explained this to US officials in his past
contacts as well.

Babacan is expected to visit Tehran between July 28 and 31 to attend
a ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. Officials said
the visit was not directly related to efforts to find a solution to
the nuclear row.

Ankara opposes nuclear weapons in its region but says any country
must have the right to make use of nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes. Ties with Iran, once strained over Turkish suspicions
that Iran wanted to export its Islamic regime to Turkey, improved
dramatically after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) first came to power in 2002. The two
countries are now cooperating, despite US opposition, in the fields
of energy and security.

Turkish diplomatic sources told Today’s Zaman that Ankara will
reiterate in talks with Hadley and Mottaki that the problems must
be resolved in peaceful ways and urge Iran to pursue transparency in
its nuclear program.

Mottaki will visit Turkey on a regional tour that also includes Oman
and Syria. Iranian sources said the talks will focus on regional
issues and the upcoming meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.

In June, EU foreign policy chief Solana presented Tehran with a
package of incentives proposed by world powers to coax Iran to halt
its nuclear work. Tension increased last week after Iran test-fired
missiles in the Gulf and the United States reminded Tehran that it
was ready to defend its allies. Fears of conflict helped push oil
prices to new record highs.

Armenian resolution to harm US ties

When Hadley visits Ankara, Turkish concerns over the possible passage
of a resolution by the US Congress recognizing Armenian claims of
genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire will also be on the
agenda. US presidential presumptive nominee Barack Obama caused
concern in Ankara when he said during his election campaign that he
would endorse the genocide claims if elected president.

"There will be serious damage to ties if such a resolution is
passed," Babacan told NTV. "Relations cannot continue as if nothing
happened." The outgoing Bush administration has worked successfully
to block a vote in the House of Representatives on the "genocide"
resolution. Babacan suggested that President Gul may attend a soccer
match in Armenia, a move that would mark a shift in relations between
the two states, which have no diplomatic ties.

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has invited Gul to visit Yerevan
for a soccer match in September. "Such participation would depend on
developments ahead of the match," Babacan said. Armenia and Turkey
will play against each other in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on
Sept. 6 in a qualifying match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, scheduled
to be held in South Africa. The foreign minister also insisted on his
argument that the Muslim majority in Turkey also faces problems in
terms of religious freedoms and accused his critics in the opposition
and the media of denying the existence of serious problems.