Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Iran's deputy foreign minister for African and Arab affairs, Hossein Jaber Ansari, arrived in Turkey on August 23 to discuss regional issues.

Jaberi Ansari is scheduled to meet with Turkish officials to exchange viewpoints regarding the latest regional issues, in particular the Syrian crisis, Tasnim news agency reported.

Turkey recently announced its intention to work with Iran and Russia to fight terrorism in Syria.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu traveled to Tehran on August 18 and held talks on regional affairs with Iranian officials in the few hours he was in Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Turkey on August 12.

Moreover, Tehran will welcome Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 24.

Moscow and Tehran have joint positions in the Syria conflict, with Turkey deeply opposed to Bashar al-Assad’s regime, of which Russia is a major backer.

Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict since March 2011, which, according to the UN, has so far claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people.

Militants from various armed groups are confronting the Syrian government troops. The "Islamic State" (aka IS, ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups are the most active ones in Syria.

Turkish-Iranian bilateral relations are evolving on the basis of the principles of non-interference in domestic affairs, mutual respect and good neighborliness. Efforts are made to further enhance the political dialogue both on bilateral and regional issues, through reciprocal visits and mechanisms such as High Level Cooperation Council and joint commissions in different sectors.

Trade turnover between Turkey and Iran amounted to $2.9 billion in 1Q 2016. The figure was $9.76 billion in 2015.

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