Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that countries opposed to Iran’s atomic program should give up their own nuclear weapons and attacked as “arrogant” the sanctions imposed on Ankara’s neighbor.
He also said he wanted the Middle East, and then the whole world, to rid itself of nuclear weapons.
During a trip to Iran this week, Erdogan said he backed Tehran’s “right to peaceful nuclear energy” and called its approach in nuclear talks with Western powers “positive.”
The trip added to Western concerns that NATO’s only Muslim member may be shifting its foreign-policy focus toward the Islamic world and turning its back on its Western allies.
Iran says the sole aim of its nuclear program is to generate electricity, but Western powers suspect it of secretly planning to produce nuclear weapons and are trying to persuade it to stop enriching uranium.
“Those who criticize Iran’s nuclear program continue to possess the same weapons,” Erdogan said. “I think that those who take this stance, who want these arrogant sanctions, need to first give these [weapons] up. We shared this opinion with our Iranian friends, our brothers.”
UN and US sanctions have already been imposed on Iran over its nuclear program and if current talks fail to produce agreement, Western powers may push for a further round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Israel is assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal. Turkey, an EU candidate, has been Israel’s closest Muslim ally, but relations have soured since Israel’s December to January attack on the Gaza Strip.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad this week praised Erdogan for his “clear stance against” Israel.
Erdogan also said Turkey wants the Middle East, and in time the world, to be free of nuclear weapons.
“We want to live in a region completely purged of nuclear weapons. We want to live in a world in which nuclear weapons no longer exist,” he said.
Erdogan has tried to expand Turkey’s influence in the Middle East and make it a regional power since his party, which traces it roots to an Islamist movement, took office in 2002.
Erdogan also reiterated previous remarks that Turkey and Iran have set themselves a target of more than tripling annual bilateral trade by 2011 to US$30 billion.
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
RSS