ANKARA - Iran's Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari in Ankara on Thursday held talks with his Turkish counterpart Roshdi Kazem Yujalan on ways to develop cooperation in the field of regional peace and stability.

Lari said that Iran has 400-year-long friendship border with Turkey adding that Iran is always interested in fostering cooperation with Turkey on political, cultural, economic and security fields, IRNA reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran regards Turkey's security as its own, anyone attempting to disrupt Turkish security is similar to the one doing against that of Iran," Mousavi Lari pointed out.

The two ministers exchanged views about the international campaign against terrorism and campaign against drug trafficking, human trafficking as well as reinforcing security in the border areas.

Lari said that Iran and Turkey hold the same view about the international campaign against terrorism adding that Iran expects Turkey to enforce ban on the anti-Iran terrorist groups operating in Turkey in return for Iran's firm action against anti-Turkish groups.

He expressed pleasure with the growth in Iran-Turkey economic cooperation thanks to pumping Iranian gas to Europe via Turkey and called for further development of the cooperation.

He pointed to the visit paid by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to Iran and said that the visit served to upgrade the growing trend of Tehran-Ankara relations.

Lari said that university course has been launched for Turkish language and literature at Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran which is a great step forward to boosting cultural and political cooperation between the two countries.

Yujalan welcomed the Iranian delegation and said that since September 11 and the international campaign against terrorism, Iran-Turkey cooperation has focused on security dimension.

He said that Turkey has concerns about Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) adding that change in the title of the terrorist group to the Kurdish Congress of freedom and democracy made no change in the terrorist nature of the group.

The Turkey's Interior Minister said that he would seek his Iranian counterpart's agreement to recognize the Kurdish group as terrorist.

On the second leg of his two-nation tour, Mousavi Lari arrived in Ankara from Vienna late Wednesday at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart.

West Azarbaijan Province's governor general and several other security officials of the Interior Ministry are accompanying Mousavi Lari.