Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late on Friday Ankara could play a positive part if it were to act as a mediator in the stalled negotiations with Iran over its suspect nuclear programme.
“If Turkey plays such a role, it could have a positive impact on the process,” Erdogan told a press conference in Washington after arriving to take part in the summit of G20 leaders on the economic crisis.
He said Turkey would be able to exert some influence on the dragging dossier because it was Iran’s neighbor.
But Erdogan did not say whether he had had any response from the US administration on his proposal to act as a mediator in the talks.
A message of congratulations by Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the US president-elect Barack Obama last week, an unprecedented move by Tehran, was “a step that has to be made use of,” Erdogan told the New York Times on Wednesday.
“We are ready to be the mediator,” he said. “I do believe we could be very useful.”
Ankara said in July that it had begun to play an informal role in the talks between Iran and the group of six leading powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States.
Erdogan reaffirmed that Turkey was not prepared to accept an Iran armed with nuclear weapons. He also again congratulated Obama on his November 4 election victory, saying: “We are ready to work with the new administration.”