'Turkey Would Not Allow Israeli Maneuvers'

Turkey Disallowing Israeli Exercises Along Turkish Border To Iran

By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Cihan News Agency , Tehran, Kabul
Published: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

“As a sovereign territory, Turkey will definitely not allow a foreign state to conduct military exercises along the borders of its neighboring countries,” said Turkey’s Ambassador Halit Bozkurt Aran to Tehran.

Aran paid an official visit to the Persian News Agency as part of his farewell visits to the country’s media institutions as his terms of office in Tehran will end late December.

There no truth to the allegations that Israel will conduct some military exercises along the border of Turkey to Iran, said Aran.

“Turkey will definitely not allow a foreign state to conduct military exercises along the borders of its neighboring countries.”

The border between Turkey and Iran was drawn 336 years ago, the Ambassador reminded, and it has not changed since, it is the symbol of peace and friendship between the two countries. When asked about Iran’s nuclear program, Aran said: “Iran’s neighboring countries are also worried about the development of this technology in the region. I hope this issue will be resolved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

In the meantime, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki repeated statements made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran about Israel: “Europe must pay for the World War II massacres.”

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