President Raeisi departs for Turkey to meet counterpart, discuss Gaza, regional issues

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi, at the head of a high-ranking political and economic delegation, has left Tehran for the Turkish capital of Ankara to meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Before his departure, Raeisi called negotiations over regional issues the centerpiece of his travel plans to Turkey, saying that, “One of the important issues that worries all Muslims and awakes people in the world is the Palestine issue. Iran and Turkey’s common position is to support the resistance of the oppressed and powerful Palestinians."

Emphasizing that “efforts have been made to stop the Israeli bombings in Gaza”, he said "because of the support of the Americans and Westerners for the Zionist regime, we are still witnessing the killings of Palestinian women and children."

“But we are sure that the victory belongs to Palestine. And it will be annihilation of the Zionist regime.”

Raeisi assert that high on the agenda is the issue of cutting off the vital arteries of the Zionist regime, which can be effective in stopping the crimes of the regime against the Palestinian people.

The Iranian chief executive is scheduled to have a private meeting with Erdogan at his presidential palace, and attend the 8th meeting of the Supreme Council of Iran-Turkey Cooperation under the chairmanship of the two presidents.

After the signing ceremony of cooperation documents between the two neighbors, the two presidents will outline the results of their consultations in a joint press conference.

During the visit which comes after Erdogan's invitation, Raeisi and Erdogan will also attend the joint meeting of business people and economic actors of Iran and Turkey. The Iranian president will also meet with Iranian nationals living in the neighboring country.

Raeisi said the Iranian government's goal is to raise the level of trade relations between Tehran and Ankara to 30 billion dollars.

“Our goal is to increase the level of commercial and economic relations between our country and Turkey to 30 billion dollars, which can be achieved with the existing capacities of the two countries,” he said.

Raeisi also underlined that important documents will be signed during the trip, which shows the will of the two countries to develop trade and economic relations.

The seventh meeting of the Supreme Council of Iran-Turkey Cooperation was held in July 2022 during the official visit of the Turkish president to the Iranian capital.

Raeisi's trip to Turkey was supposed to be held on January 15, but it was postponed due to the terrorist attack in the southeastern Iranian province of Kerman. 

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