TEHRAN – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced on Thursday that in his visit to Tehran he carried a message from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to Iranian officials for a resumption of nuclear talks. 

Ashton represents the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) in nuclear talks with Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also said at a joint press conference with Davutoglu in Tehran on Thursday that the Islamic Republic is also ready to resume talks with the 5+1 group at a time and place agreed by both sides.

Davutoglu said at the press conference, “I gave Ashton’s message to Mr. Salehi, the foreign minister of Iran, (and) the foreign minister of Iran also expressed readiness (for dialogue).”

“What is important is continuation of dialogue. As Turkey we defend peaceful steps,” Davutoglu said, adding, “We hope that nuclear talks reach a good point and the unfavorable climate that has been created to calm down.”

Salehi confirmed Iran was ready to return to talks with the major powers, saying that Ashton had suggested Turkey host the talks and that Ankara had agreed.

“Personally I think that Turkey is the best place for the talks to take place,” Salehi said.

Istanbul was the venue of the last talks between Iran and the six major powers which had no concrete results. 

In January 2011, Iran and the 5+1 group held two days of talks in Istanbul but did not set a date for the next round of the negotiations. 

After the Istanbul talks, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili said that the talks focused on common ground for cooperation. 

But Ashton said the six major powers were “disappointed” with the stance taken by Iran during the talks. 

At the press conference in Tehran, Davutoglu also said Iran can give “good advice” to the Damascus government in efforts to prevent bloodshed in Syria. 

“We believe that Iran can give good advice to the Syrian government and remind (Syrian officials) of their responsibilities,” Davutoglu stated.

The top Turkish diplomat added, “We had worries about the Syria issue which (these worries) have unfortunately become more.”

In addition, the Turkish foreign minister assured neighboring Iran that the U.S. radar to be deployed in Turkey as part of a NATO missile defense system is not a threat to the Islamic Republic. 

“This is for defensive purposes only,” he said.  

“We guarantee that this is not a threat to Iran. We would never take any step that could negatively affect our relations with our neighbor,” the Turkish foreign minister stated.

“We underlined it very clearly that the missile defense system cannot be directed at any of Turkey’s neighbors. NATO documents confirm this. … There is no reference to Iran in any NATO document as a source of threats,” said Davutoglu, according to a translation of his remarks posted on the Turkish Weekly website. 

He added, “We would never accept any attack on any of our neighbors from our soil. We don’t want such a perception of threat to exist, especially against Iran.”