Ankara to maintain ties with Iran at all costs

Turkey's Ambassador to Iran Umit Yardim underlined that differences and disputes over a number of issues, including deployment of the NATO missile system in Turkey, cannot undermine Ankara's resolve to maintain and reinvigorate ties with Iran.Speaking to FNA, Yardim said that Turkey has never considered and will not consider Iran as a threat. "People and the public opinion in Iran should be confident that Turkey will defend their rights," he noted, and added, "Iran is an old friend and neighbor of ours and no power can force us to distance ourselves from each other." "We will not allow such a thing to happen and we will not allow a darkening of these ties no matter what the costs might be," Yardim stated. The diplomat pointed to the meeting between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last month and stated, "We do not overlook the relations with Iran no matter what the coasts are." "Neither this missile defense system, nor any other issue can disrupt these ties," Yardim reiterated. Turkey has recently accepted to host a NATO early warning system, a move blasted by Iranian officials. Turkey's Foreign Ministry revealed last month that negotiations with NATO chiefs over the "missile shield" had reached "their final stages". Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Selcuk Unal said, "The early warning radar system allocated by the United States to NATO will be deployed in our country." Unal said that the plan reflected the new strategic concept approved by the Western military alliance's leaders at a Lisbon summit last year. The United States Defense Department subsequently announced that the radar system will be operational by the end of the year. Iran deplored the plan and warned Ankara not to play into the hands of the Zionists and their US backers, saying that the move would serve Israel's interests. Senior Iranian officials said the NATO missile shield has been designed to protect Israel.