Davutoğlu denies US requested Turkey stay out of Iran talks

“Iran is our neighbor in the region. We are involved in matters concerning our region, irrespective of who says what to us,” Davutoğlu told reporters at a joint press conference following talks with senior EU officials, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle, in İstanbul on Tuesday.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying on Monday that during a telephone conversation with Davutoğlu earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Davutoğlu to leave Iran’s nuclear dispute to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and that Davutoğlu agreed.

But Davutoğlu dismissed claims that such a request came from the US. “The US has not conveyed to us any such message,” he said. “There can be no process without our participation. … We have the will to carry this process out with better coordination.”

Turkey and Brazil signed an agreement with Iran on May 17, under which it agreed to send 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for uranium enriched up to 20 percent by Russia and France. But the US immediately dismissed the deal and pressed for sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council. The sanctions were passed but Turkey and Brazil voted against the measure.

Despite the sanctions, a new round of talks is expected to begin. Russia and France, both members of the UN Security Council and the Vienna Group of negotiators, have called for talks on the basis of the nuclear swap deal but it is not clear whether and how Turkey would be involved. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that the countries negotiating with Iran over its  nuclear program should take the Turkish-Brazilian plan seriously. “Today we stand for conducting technical consultations in Vienna on the basis of the scheme suggested by Turkey and Brazil together with Iran,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said this week that the Vienna Group -- comprising the US, France, Russia and the IAEA -- had accepted Tehran’s proposal that Turkey and Brazil participate in the talks on Iran’s nuclear program. But there has been no confirmation from Turkey or the Vienna Group so far.

Davutoğlu said the Tehran declaration of May 17 was still on the table as a possible basis for future talks, adding that, alternatively, a new process might also begin on the basis of a letter Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, has sent to Ashton. Iran said in the letter sent earlier this month that it’s ready for talks on the country’s nuclear program but that the EU must first guarantee there would be no threats against Tehran.

“Turkey will continue to do its best [to support efforts] in both [tracks],” Davutoğlu told reporters.

Israel should do more to heal rift

During the press conference, Davutoğlu also commented on the results of an Israeli military investigation into a May 31 raid on an aid ship trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which killed eight Turks and one American. The foreign minister welcomed the investigation’s conclusion that the Israeli military had made errors when boarding the Mavi Marmara but said this was not enough to restore relations.

“Admitting to mistakes is very positive,” he said, adding: “In international waters, a civilian ship was attacked. This was not a mistake; it was an offense, a crime.”

Turkey demands an apology and an international investigation into the deadly raid, saying relations would otherwise not return to normal. The Israeli military report, released on Monday, mentioned failures in intelligence gathering but found no wrongdoing or negligence in the raid. The Turkish charity group the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), which owned the Mavi Marmara, on the other hand, dismissed the report in strong terms, saying in a statement on Tuesday that it is an attempt to cover up the massacre on the ship. The statement said two activists, Cevdet Kılıçlar and Furkan Doğan, were killed by the commandos as they were trying to record the clashes on the ship on camera. Doğan, 19, was shot five times at close range after he was wounded and fell down, the statement said.

Restoring confidence in EU

Tuesday’s meeting of Turkish and EU officials is part of regular bilateral meetings between the EU and Turkey, taking place on a ministerial level twice a year, came amid concerns in the US and Europe that Turkey is drifting away from the West. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently blamed the EU for the shift, something Turkish officials deny, while EU officials responded, saying Washington, not the EU, is responsible for changes in Turkish foreign policy.

During Tuesday’s talks, the EU side both reassured Turkey about its membership bid, with Füle saying that the 27-nation bloc had a “clear mandate” on Turkey’s membership bid, and welcomed Turkey’s growing influence in its region.

Ashton said she welcomed “Turkey’s role in the Middle East, in the Balkans, on Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” while Davutoğlu stressed that Ankara would like to further cooperate with the bloc in regional policies. “We share a vast region, ranging from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean. Turkey is following an active policy and gives the utmost importance to conducting these policies in cooperation with the EU,” he said.

During the talks, the Turkish side also pressed the EU to cooperate better with Turkey in its efforts to fight the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ashton pledged that the EU was “determined to do all that is in its power to act against terrorist groups.”