Erdogan: We’ll not sever our trade relations with our neighbor Iran

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country has not and won’t sever its economic and trade relations with its neighbor Iran due to the sanctions imposed on it.

This came in his speech on Wednesday, at the Turkish-Iranian Business Forum in the capital, Ankara.

Erdogan added, “Opening new border gates with Iran is on our agenda, and measures are continuing regarding establishing border trade centers to increase economic development in our border states”.

President Erdogan stressed, “The two regional powers, Türkiye and Iran, must strengthen their cooperation for development and stability”.

He added, “We’ve not and won’t sever our economic and trade relations with our neighbor Iran because of the sanctions”.

Regarding the Israeli attacks on Gaza, President Erdogan said, “We’re making every effort to stop the massacres, achieve a ceasefire, and pave the way for lasting peace in the region”.

Erdogan pointed out that, “Whoever seeks to prosper through injustice will have a dire consequence, and victory will be the ally of my Palestinian brothers at this stage”.

Erdogan expressed his hope that the forum would enhance economic and trade cooperation between Türkiye and Iran.

He explained that he hopes that activity through the forum will encourage new projects, cooperation and investments in economic and trade relations between the two countries.

He added, “Türkiye and Iran are neighboring and sister countries with a total population of about 170 million people and they have enormous resources and human power… The two countries that were the cradle of civilizations throughout history have deep-rooted and multidimensional relations”.

The Turkish President added, “Iran is one of our country’s gateways to Asia, and Türkiye is Iran’s gateway to Europe”.

He continued, “We see that there is serious potential to develop economic and trade relations between our two countries, and until now, we haven’t been able to adequately benefit from this potential for various reasons, but we have maintained our will to move forward with our relations, especially trade and investments, in a way that will increase the well-being of our two peoples”.

He said, “We reaffirmed our desire to develop cooperation in the bilateral and joint meetings between delegations that we held with Mr. Raisi, and today we signed 10 agreements in various fields, and these agreements strengthened the legal basis of our relations”.

He explained by saying, “Türkiye and Iran, the two major regional powers, must advance their economic cooperation for the sake of prosperity, development and stability… From this standpoint, we remain determined to reach the trade target of $30 billion that we set with Iran in the past”.