Iranian president meets Turkish parliament speaker

Iranian President Hassan Rohani called for cooperation between Iran and Turkey on bilateral and regional issues during a meeting with visiting Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek on Sunday. Rohani said Iran and Turkey as two influential countries in the region can play crucial role to resolve regional crises through closer cooperation. Iran and Turkey are expected to augment trade to 30 billion dollars by 2015, the Iranian President said, calling for the use of national currencies in trade between the two countries. Despite their different approaches toward the Syrian crisis, Iran and Turkey are seeking the same goals of ending bloodshed in the war-torn country, Rohani said, calling for open consultations between Tehran and Ankara to help stem the bloodshed in Syria. For his part, the Turkish Parliament Speaker said that Turkey’s foreign policy seeks an immediate halt to the bloodshed and find a negotiated settlement for the crisis. The Turkish Speaker expressed objection to any negotiation with those who use weapons to achieve their goals, saying the only way to deal with terrorists is to fight them. He called the upcoming meeting between President Rohani and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York a major step forward to strengthen bilateral ties.