Speaking at a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared the two nations had agreed on the need to end the Saudi war on Yemen.
Erdogan did not directly address the war in his segment of the comments, but rather emphasized the importance of improving bilateral ties between Turkey and Iran. Rouhani went on to call for a ceasefire “as soon as possible.”
Since the Erdogan government is a relatively religious Sunni government by Turkish standards, it was considered unlikely they would support Iran on the issue of the increasingly sectarian war in Yemen.
But Erdogan has emphasized the need to halt intra-Muslim conflict in recent days, and had couched his visit to Tehran to talk to Rouhani as an effort toward that end.
As a NATO member it will be interesting to see how much influence Turkey has on the US regarding the Saudis. If the US were to dis the Turks and the Turks throw the US/NATO out of Turkey I imagine it would screw up a lot of things the US has going on in the ME…like a convenient parking place for all that Air Force stuff.
Yes, I was wondering if the Turks got permission from Uncle Sam before their little visit with the Evil Iranians (they are on the Axis of Evil, right?).
It seems like the Turks and the Iranians, bein' neighbors and all, shouldn't they try to act neighborly once in a while? It sure makes my life easier when I can work with my neighbors, instead of against them.
But of course, that would be against the rules, as determined by Uncle Sam and Bibi.
It is at least as likely the US is using him as another unofficial contact with Iran. We're already doing that in Iraq.
Saudi Arabia the richest and most criminal greedy nation in the Middle-East, surely their invasion has nothing to do with spiritual driven religion, it being all about glory driven sectarian pride.
If you can trust USG, as the way is constructed being auctiond every four years to higher bider, or for that matter the English neo liberalism as its attached to english monarks, then you can trust Erdogan religios regime attached to saudis and NATO.
Saudi Arabia, an illegitimate family oil business posing as a nation.
Erdogan climbed to the very top of a greasy pole and has stayed there for a long time. He overcame a series of military coups and other ambitious Muslim challengers too. Chances are he is not fool. We don't get much sense of what he is up to here from our pundits, but that may be the pundits, not him.
For example, the US may have asked Erdogan to help make nice with Iran. The US has some complex deals going all around involving Iran, and other unofficial contacts we already know about.
Also, Erdogan wants to lead Muslims internationally. One way to do that is to differentiate himself from the other contenders. The others demand and fight war in Yemen? He can represent "don't kill other Muslims," and he can get mileage by saying it whether or not he can really do anything about Yemen.
This is inconsistent with his Syria position? Well, Syria isn't working out well for him at all anyway, and Iran may offer new opportunities that will work out better.
We don't know enough about why he's doing all this to be safe just underestimating and dismissing him.