Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to support US President Barack Obama's push for new sanctions against Iran in an interview Tuesday. Erdogan spoke to CNN while he was in Washington, attending the Obama administration's summit on nuclear security.
Erdogan said Turkey has had a strategic alliance with Iran since the 17th century and therefore wants a diplomatic solution. "I believe that we can find a way out," he said, adding that his country was willing to act as a mediator in the matter of Iran's nuclear program.
He said that countries that are members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) "must all work together on this, and as (for) Turkey, we could act as a very important intermediary."
Erdogan said that he does not want to see any nuclear weapons in the Middle East. He complained that Israel, which does not recognize the NPT, remains a member of the IAEA. Israel should make a contribution to peace, he said, but Israeli politics make this difficult. When Israel's coalition government speaks, "it's not a symphony, it's a cacophony," he added.