TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour announced on Tuesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Iran soon.

The announcement was made after Rahimpour’s meeting with Turkish Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary Umit Yalcin in Tehran.

Rahimpour expressed hope that effective steps would be taken to reach objectives defined within the framework of the joint economic committee and the Iran-Turkey Supreme Council on Strategic Cooperation.

Relations between the two countries in various areas of politics, culture and economy have been expanded in the current year which would guarantee increase in interaction and cooperation, he explained.

He also said that Iran and Turkey share common position on regional issues especially the territorial integrity in Iraq and Syria and solidarity among ethnic and religious groups in these two countries.

For his part, Yalcin said that the two countries have common stance on fighting terrorism and maintaining the territorial integrity of the regional countries.

Commenting on independence referendum in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, he said that Iraq’s territorial integrity should be protected and the Kurdistan region should have “constructive cooperation and interaction” with Baghdad in this respect.

Massoud Barzani, the leader of Iraqi Kurdistan, tweeted on June 7 that an independence referendum is scheduled to be held on September 25, 2017. Iran and Turkey have denounced the move.

NA/PA