Erdogan in Iran for visit

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani agreed to boost trade and signed a slew of deals at a meeting on Tuesday, but steered clear of directly addressing differences over Yemen.
Erdogan’s one-day visit to Iran comes as relations between Ankara and Tehran — already strained by disagreements over Syria — have been battered by events in Yemen, where they have backed opposing sides.
Erdogan has accused Iran of attempting to dominate the region. Some Iranian lawmakers had called for Tehran to cancel his visit, with one politician saying the Turkish president wanted to rebuild the Ottoman empire.
But analysts have said that the friction between the two neighbors will be kept in check by economic dependency — Turkey needs Iranian gas and sanctions-hit Tehran desperately needs export markets.
The two presidents signed eight agreements and took pains to emphasize the need for greater economic cooperation, with Erdogan saying that the two countries were far behind a target to lift trade volume to $30 billion.
He also said Turkey and Iran should start trading in their own currencies instead of dollars or euros to avoid foreign exchange volatility.
Speaking at a joint news conference broadcast on Turkish television, both Erdogan and Rouhani sought to play down the regional tension, without making any concrete suggestions.
“I don’t look at the sect. It does not concern me whether Shiite or Sunni, what concerns me is Muslims,” Erdogan said.