In an interview with the Al-Jazeera TV, Prime Minister Erdoğan said, "we are not in favor of presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iran and in our region. But it is not fair and unjust to put pressure on Iran while someone else in the region has such weapons. The world must assume a fair attitude. In that case a totaly different environment of confidence will emerge."
Asked about Turkey's likely attitude in case of a sanction or embargo against Iran, Erdoğan said, "an embargo is out of question for the time being. What if those who make a decision to impose embargo on Iran have their own nuclear weapons? This is not fair."
"Iran has a long-standing political tradition of its own. You cannot ignore Iran and any attempt to encourage negative approaches to Iran will damage efforts to ensure peace in the region," he said.
Upon a question about recent agreements Turkey signed with Syria and Iraq, Prime Minister Erdoğan said, "I consider them quite meaningful and good developments. We established a high-level strategic relations council with Syria. We also signed a series of agreements with Iraq to improve our relations in the areas of education, health, trade, security, national defense, agriculture, energy and transportation. These agreements will be beneficial for the three countries."
"We also want to set up a high-level strategic relations council with Russia. We made a proposal to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin," he said.
Asked whether those efforts were an alternative to the EU, Prime Minister Erdoğan said, "they are nothing to do with the EU. We are planning to make similar proposals to Romania and Bulgaria. Our efforts aim at improving our bilateral relations. They will make contributions to our economy. On the other hand, Turkey will form a significant ground when it becomes a member of the EU."
