Turkey PM to visit Tehran enhancing bilateral ties

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a visit to Tehran late this month and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Turkey in few months in a bid to enhance the bilateral relations of the two neighbors in the region. The announcement was made by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif at a joint press conference after their two-hour close door meeting in Istanbul. Mohammad Javad Zarif's one-day trip came as Turkey seeks to improve political and economic ties with its neighbour but the Turkish government in Ankara is involved in a deep political crisis over the corruption scandal. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the Iranian foreign minister before his meeting with Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss bilateral relations as well as the latest developments in the region. The two ministers said that Ankara and Tehran aimed to increase their trade volume up to 30 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2015 and then raise it up further to 50 billion dollars. The trade volume between the two countries has reached 22 billion dollars at the end of 2012. On the other hand the two countries agreed on the establishment of high level strategic council which will be operational in the upcoming months. Syrian crisis and the upcoming Geneva II conference were also on top of the agenda of the two foreign ministers' meeting. In November 2013 Davutoglu and Zarif had agreed on achieving a cease- fire in Syria before the Geneva II conference. However, the Iranian foreign minister admitted that the two countries have differences on the issue. "There are some differences between Iran and Turkey but they will be eliminated by mutual understanding. Our eventual objective is to bring peace and stability to Syria." During the press conference the two ministers repeated their consensus that the bloodshed in Syria would soon be put an end while Zarif stressing the respect of all nations for the sake of peace and stability of the region.