Ankara considers it wrong to apply the sanctions policy against Tehran, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu said.
He stressed that the Turkish authorities are required by the circumstances: they criticize Iran if it is wrong, and support it if it is right.
"It is a grave mistake to corner Iran if some countries do not like it and want to remove it. Is Iran really our enemy? Not at all," RIA Novosti cited the minister as saying.
The senior research fellow of the Department of Near and Middle East at the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lana Ravandi-Fadai, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that today Turkey and Iran are united by such a common problem as the separatist sentiments of the Kurds residing on their territories. "Therefore, the main actual reason for such Ankara's support of Tehran is their common position on the referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iran and Turkey are equally worried about the Kurdish issue. Of course, the independence of Erbil is not being discussed right now, but this referendum can lead to aggravation of the situation in both countries," she pointed out.
"And the situation has already started to deteriorate. There have been several demonstrations, the Iranian Kurds celebrated this referendum very widely and started to talk about autonomy in those regions of Iran where they live. There is no direct threat yet, but I think that Tehran's support for Ankara is aimed at that to get Iran's support in the Kurdish issue, Turkey really needs it. That is, now the two countries are interested in improving relations and supporting each other more than ever," Lana Ravandi-Fadai stressed.
