Turkey’s Foreign Minister: Thanks, but no thanks, on Iran sanctions

In an interview with Turtle Bay, Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that his government will continue to expand its economic relations with Iran, dismissing a major diplomatic effort by the United States and European governments to squeeze Tehran with banking and insurance sanctions.

“Nobody can ask us to stop our economic ties with Iran,” Davutoglu told Turtle BayWednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly debate. “We will continue to have these ties because it is in our national interest.”

Turkey’s expanding economic relations with its southern neighbor, Iran, have weakened American and European efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic, and punish it for its intransigent nuclear program. Despite the West’s campaign to constrain Iran’s commercial activities, Iranian trade with Turkey surpassed $10 billion in 2008, and could triple over the next five years, according to a senior Iranian official.

Turkey has come under scrutiny this week for allowing Iranian banks suspected of financing Iran’s nuclear program to operate on Turkish soil. Reuters news agency published an investigative report indicating Turkey’s growing banking partnership with Iran is providing a gateway to the European financial system, bypassing U.S. and European sanctions.

Davutoglu defended Turkey’s financial dealings with Iran, saying that Ankara has no legal obligation to honor U.S. or European sanctions against Iranian banks. “We are bound only by U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he said. “Bilateral sanctions [do] not bind anyone except those who have declared it.”

For years, the United States and its European allies have led U.N. efforts to impose a series of sanctions resolutions on Iran for refusing to suspend its enrichment of uranium and failing to provide full cooperation to U.N. inspectors responsible for monitoring nuclear activities. But those efforts have faced resistance from Turkey and Brazil: Both voted this year against the latest round of sanctions, saying that it would be more productive to pursue further diplomatic negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

The move signaled a willingness of the emerging powers to play a more assertive role on the diplomatic stage. Today, Turkish President Abdullah Gul reinforced that message, telling the U.N. General Assembly that Turkey and other key powers need to be given a greater say on the day’s most pressing security challenges. “We should keep in mind that global problems cannot be solved unilaterally, bilaterally or in small circles of like-minded nations.”

Davutoglu told Turtle Bay that the new assertiveness of emerging powers like Turkey and Brazil “should not be seen as a new game” aimed at altering the balance of power at the United Nations. “But if you are member of the United Nations Security Council you have to be active for the objectives of the U.N. If you are just a passive member…then your presence in the Security Council is meaningless. Turkey can help with the solutions of the Security Council.” 

Davutoglu urged Iran, the United States, and other key powers to re-start negotiations over the nuclear standoff. He pointed to recent U.S. and Iranian calls for a resumption of nuclear talks as a new opening.  “If you implement sanctions and there is no diplomatic channel, we have the experience of Iraq in the past.” That period, he said, was defined by a vicious cycle of “sanctions, tensions, conflicts and this is not a good example.”

“There are opportunities to solve this issue but at the same time there are very serious risks for the escalation of the crisis,” he added. If diplomacy “doesn’t start in [the] coming weeks and months and [if only sanctions are used to pressure] Iran, that may lead to an escalation of tensions and nobody will win out of such an escalation.”

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