Ahmadinejad: No need for Turkish mediation, "with justice & respect no issue would remain in the world"

Source: Press TV, 11-03-2009

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad passes up an offer by Turkey to act as a mediator between the new Obama administration and Iran.
"There is no need for mediation," Reuters quoted President Ahmadinejad as saying after talks in Tehran with leaders of member countries of the regional Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).

"Our stances are clear: if there is justice and respect no issue would remain in the world," he added.
The remarks came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered in November to use Turkey's growing role in the Middle East to bridge the divide between the East and the West, saying, "We are ready to be the mediator [between Iran and the US]".

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan after meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said Turkey would consider serving as mediator to end 30 years of severed diplomatic ties.
"We can contribute to bringing relations between the two countries to a much better place, and our hope is that this search for dialogue will bring concrete results," the state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Babacan as saying.

He however added that he would not be carrying a message from the United States to Iranian officials during his current visit to Tehran.
Earlier on Saturday during her official trip to Ankara, Clinton told the Turkish television that the US would ask Turkey to help President Barack Obama's agenda to engage Iran.

President Obama said in his first White House news conference that he saw the possibility of diplomatic openings with Iran in the months ahead where both sides "can start sitting across the table, face to face" -- a move that his predecessor George W. Bush had long opposed.
Separate media reports claimed on Wednesday that Turkish President Abdallah Gul, who is in Tehran to attend the summit of Organization for Economic Cooperation, passed on a "verbal message" from the White House regarding US-Iran relations to his Iranian counterpart.

According to Turkish media, following his closed-door meeting with President Ahmadinejad, the Turkish president said, "The ice of US-Iran relations has been broken, but it will take time to normalize the situation."
Turkey argues that it has a unique strategic position which would facilitate talks between Washington and Tehran.
The country is a NATO member and secured a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in October 2008.

Turkey is also a Muslim country that has renewed relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors in recent years, and has brought Israel and Syria together for talks for the first time in years.
Following the election of Barack Obama as US president in November Erdogan said his election offered a chance for the United States to regain the trust of the world and reclaim "an image that's been lost."

Erdogan pointed to a congratulatory note sent to President Obama by the Iranian president saying it is "a step that has to be made use of."