Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran and Turkey have established a high council for strategic cooperation for the first time in the history of mutual relations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in Tehran on June 10 after his two-day visit to Turkey.

"Different topics on mutual issues were discussed during the meetings of the High Council for Strategic Cooperation," Rouhani said, Press TV reported.

He added that after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, Tehran has always maintained good relations with Turkey as a strong neighboring Muslim country.

"Iran and Turkey share common views on bilateral issues as well as other regional and international questions," he pointed out.

Rouhani noted that in his talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on June 9 and at the meeting of the high council, the two sides agreed to double mutual trade.

The figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said, the Iran-Turkey trade turnover stood at $ 3.256 billion in the first quarter of 2014. The two countries are determined to increase their trade volume to $ 30 billion by 2015.

President Rouhani further said Tehran and Ankara have a common stance on the nuclear issue.

"The two countries work closely in fight against violence and extremism. They are also cooperating to make the Middle East region free from weapons of mass destruction because this issue is important not only at a regional level but at an international level," he added.

He noted that Iran and Turkey share common goals on regional issues but have different views on certain topics and have agreed to resolve them.

Iran and Turkey are at odds over Syria, with Iran being a strong strategic ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting his opponents.

However, after coming to power, the moderate Rouhani have started to re-establish Iran's relations with the world community, especially with the neighboring countries.

Rouhani's visit is the first official visit of an Iranian president to Turkey since Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's trip to Ankara in 1996.