Türkiye, Iran need to fight against terror groups in solidarity: Turkish president

Türkiye and Iran need to continue to fight terrorist groups in solidarity, as they stir up trouble for both countries, the Turkish president said in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday.

"The PJAK, PKK, PYD, YPG, and FETO terrorist organizations are troublemakers for both Türkiye and Iran. We need to continue the fight against them in solidarity," Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a press conference alongside his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, citing a list of offshoots or allies of the PKK, a terror group that has taken some 40,000 lives, and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup in 2016.

"As you know, we have now included them in NATO records," he added, referring to a recent memorandum on Sweden and Finland's membership bids. "They are troublemakers that disturb the peace in whatever country they are in. Therefore, we need to continue our struggle against them in solidarity."

8 AGREEMENTS, BOOSTING TRADE TIES

Earlier co-chairing the 7th meeting of the Türkiye-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council to enhance bilateral cooperation, the two leaders signed eight agreements in the areas of trade, social security, and sports.

Erdoğan said he believed that the countries will boost their bilateral trade volume to $30 billion.

"Unfortunately, we faced a serious setback due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As of now, we have reached $7.5 billion. I believe that the two countries will reach $30 billion again.

"It is possible to accelerate this process with the steps that we will take in the defense industry. This can be accelerated with steps to be taken in both oil and natural gas," he added.

ASTANA PROCESS FOR SYRIA

Later in the day, Erdoğan, Raisi, and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet for the 7th Trilateral Summit Meeting in the Astana format to discuss the latest developments in Syria, and the fight against terror groups, particularly the PKK and its Syrian offshoot the YPG/PKK and Daesh/ISIS.

On the trilateral meeting in Tehran, Erdoğan said the meeting will be a reevaluation of the 2017 Astana process.

The Astana process was launched in 2017 to restore peace in Syria, which has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters with unexpected ferocity.


On the signing of the eight agreements, Erdoğan later said on Twitter: "I believe that our visit will give a new impetus to our relations."

"As President Mr. Raisi has stated, our fight against terrorism is of great importance," he added.

"I hope that our in-depth discussions in political, military, economic, commercial, cultural and all other fields will be beneficial for Türkiye and Iran," he added.