Turkish nationals celebrated the National Day on Monday to mark the 84th proclamation of the Turkish Republic.

Turkey is taking great jumps toward modernization under the current leadership of Justice and Development Party.
The Muslim nation of 75 million is considered a very important country in the region and the world, and Iran attaches great importance to its relations with this country.
Geographically, Turkey acts as bridge between the West and East so that some analysts and political officials are of the opinion that a final membership of Turkey in the European Union will help resolve the differences between the Christian and Islamic civilization.
Turkey and Iran, as two great important Muslim countries with a unique geo-strategic situation, enjoy great potential for cooperation. Iran and Turkey also share abundant ethnic, religious and cultural commonalities so that the number of Iranians who visit Turkey is very large in comparison to other countries.
The Iran-Turkey relations have been peaceful for about 400 years so that some political experts and historians have called the two countries’ borders as “borders of peace and friendship.”
In the light of such advantages Turkey and Iran have taken major steps for enhancing their ties so that the value of economic trade between the two countries has reached to about 7 billion dollars annually which is expected to rise to 10 billion dollar in the near future.
The signing of an agreement for the transit of Iranian gas to European markets through Turkey has added to Tehran’s relations with Ankara as a strategic partner.
The close relationship between Iran and Turkey, as two leading members of the ECO, is also very important for helping establish peace and security in Afghanistan and also work for permanent peace in Caucasus.
A refusal by the Turkish leadership to cut energy cooperation with Iran under a pressure from the U.S. is very commendable.
Tehran is also thankful to Ankara for an insistence that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear issue should be settled diplomatically. As a sign of goodwill, Turkey hosted a meeting between former Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Ankara in late April.
The Iranian people would also remember with sincere affection the great help of the Turkish government to earthquake victims in Bam in southern Iran.
In regard to regional developments Iran and Turkey also share common interests and worries. For example, the two countries have insisted on the territorial integrity of Iraq and expressed worries about the influence of foreign influence in northern Iraq, and insist on a close regional cooperation for confronting terror acts by PKK and PEJAK