Washington, December 08: Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the West Monday for being too quick to censure Iran's nuclear program but told President Barack Obama that Ankara was prepared to mediate with Tehran.
Obama, who welcomed Erdogan to the White House for a meeting that ranged widely over regional trouble spots, said Turkey could be "an important player in trying to move Iran".
But the two NATO allies appeared at odds over the seriousness of Iran's push to develop a uranium enrichment capacity.
Erdogan took issue with a vote last week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, to censure Iran after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected an offer to enrich uranium to fuel a research reactor outside Iran.
"I believe that was a very rushed process because certain steps could be taken in a more consultative fashion," Erdogan said at a press conference, speaking through an interpreter.
Ahmadinejad responded to the IAEA vote by threatening to build 10 more uranium enrichment facilities, in addition to two existing facilities, so that it can enrich uranium on its own.
Erdogan stressed that diplomacy was the only way to deal with Iran's nuclear program and said Turkey had no problem with it so long as it was for peaceful purposes, as Tehran claims.
"But if for the formation of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) or chemical weapons, those problems can only be solved through diplomatic means," he said.
"Turkey can play the role of negotiator or a mediator and this is the only information that we shared with President Obama."
He said Turkey had contacts and a positive relationship with Iran that could be useful.
"We do not want a country in our region to possess a nuclear weapon, and we want countries that already possess nuclear weapons to be rid of them. This is our thesis that we abide by."
Erdogan in October accused the West of treating Iran unfairly by demanding that it halt what its nuclear programs, while not demanding the same of nuclear armed countries in the region, an allusion to Israel.
At the White House, Obama noted that the US was working to try to resolve the nuclear showdown.
"I believe that Turkey can be an important player in trying to move Iran in that direction," Obama said.
During a short press availability with Erdogan in the Oval Office, the US president also praised Turkey for its role in Afghanistan where it has 1,700 troops, less than a week after unveiling a 30,000 strong surge of troops designed to pave a US exit from the war.
Erdogan gave no indication Ankara would be willing to provide combat troops to the NATO-led force, but said later it could train Afghan soldiers in Afghanistan and help train its police force.
Unlike other European members of the International Security Assistance Force, Turkey's mission is limited to patrols and its troops do not take part in combat operations.
On Iraq, he stressed the need for close coordination with the United States over the next year as it withdraws its forces from the country.
Turkey has a history of tension with Kurds in northern Iraq, fearing that Kurdish separatists will use the border region to launch attacks inside its own territory.
His visit coincided with an attack in northern Turkey that left seven soldiers killed. It was unclear who was responsible, but Erdogan vowed they would pay "a heavy price."
Erdogan also offered to play a mediating role between Israel and Syria, but acknowledged strains in Ankara's relations with the government of hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The problems between the two countries can only be surpassed if Israel can express a single opinion," he said, noting that Netanyahu had questioned Turkey's impartiality.
"Under these circumstances it is not very easy to establish positive relations," he said.
Erdogan also said he pressed for a stronger role for Turkey within NATO, and expressed optimism that would be the case under new NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
----Agencies
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