Erdogan says Iran, Turkey must stop bleeding in Iraq, Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey and Iran "should play the role of mediator" in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

During a joint press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Tuesday, Erdogan said "history and culture has been slaughtered in Iraq".

Erdogan said more than 100,000 people had died in Iraq and at least 300,000 in Syria. 

He said: "Who died there? Humans. Muslims.

"I don't make any discrimination, I don't say, 'Shia people died, Sunni people died'. For me, there are only human beings - Muslims - dying there."

Erdogan said Iran and Turkey should mediate between the battling sides and hope to get a result.

Clashes between Iraqi forces, Syrian opposition factions and Daesh have been ongoing since June 2014, when the militant armed group seized Mosul and other territories in Iraq and Syria.

The move prompted the U.S. to form an international coalition, which has launched numerous airstrikes against Daesh targets in both Iraq and Syria since August.

Turkey and the U.S. agreed a deal on Feb. 19 to train and equip Syrian opposition forces, in a bid to achieve a political transformation in the war-torn country on the basis of the Geneva Communique. 

Syrian fighters trained in the joint program are expected to fight both Daesh and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime.

 Energy cooperation

Speaking about cooperation between  Turkey andIran on energy, Erdogan said Turkey had been "buying the most expensive gas from Iran" and "Turkey does not want to be in that position".

He said if Iran reduced the natural gas price, Turkey would increase the cubic meters of natural gas it purchases.

He said: "We need to make that situation more appropriate.

"If we don't collaborate with Iran in this regard, who are we going to collaborate with?"

Erdogan's visit followed a framework agreement last week between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program which is expected to lead to the lifting of sanctions on the country, if Iran significantly restricts its nuclear capacity.

Turkey has purchased 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Iran per year since 2001, making the country Turkey's second-largest gas supplier after Russia.

 'No stalling'

Turkey has demanded Iran reduce prices by a quarter, which Iran has refused to date.

Iran is also the most expensive gas exporter to Turkey, while Russia has recently agreed to lower its price to Turkey by 10.25 percent.

Erdogan also said the trade volume target for the two countries was $30 billion dollars. 

He said: "Right now, Turkey exports a total of $4 billion dollars and Iran exports a total of $10 billion dollars.

"We need to overcome the stalling in that regard."

Erdogan also suggested a "local currency exchange rate" between the two countries, adding: " Turkey andIran can do the merchandising with the local currencies of the two countries."

"With that, we don't have to be under the pressure of the dollar or the euro," he added.

 'Stop the bleeding' 

Rouhani said he and Erdogan had discussed the situation in Yemen "in detail," and presented their "sincere opinions".

" Iran andTurkey agree on stopping the bleeding in Yemen as soon as possible," Rouhani said.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of Arab countries, all of them U.S. allies, to launch airstrikes against Houthi positions for the last two weeks.

Riyadh said the strikes were in response to calls by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi for military intervention to "save the (Yemeni) people from the Houthi militias".

Fractious Yemen has been in turmoil since last September, when the Shiite militants overran Sanaa, from which they have sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.

Some Gulf countries accuse Shiite Iran of supporting the Houthi insurgency which has forced Hadi to flee the country.

Rouhani thanked Turkey for supporting the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the group of six major world powers.

"The deal will also be beneficial for Turkey-Iran economic relations," Rouhani said. 

About the meetings between Turkish and Iranian delegations, Rouhani said: "We agreed that there will be no tolerance for instability or distrust in the two countries' relations."

Last week, Iran and the P5+1 group of nations - the U.S., China, France, Russia, the U.K. and Germany - unveiled a preliminary framework for talks aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear program and set a June 30 deadline for reaching a deal.  

Following the announcement, U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the negotiations with Iran as being "historic".

 Agreements signed

A total of eight memoranda of understandings were signed in diplomacy, health, environment, industry, women and family studies and electronic database sharing in goods and vehicle transportation between Iran and Turkey.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, Minister of Customs and Trade Nurettin Canikli, Development Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, Culture and Tourism Minister Omer Celik and Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan participated the meetings.

Erdogan also met Iran's religious leader, Ali Hamaney, during his one-day visit.