Turkey, Russia find common ground on ıran, Hamas' role in mideast peace process

Turkey and Russia yesterday concurred on opposing nuclear weapons in the Middle East and calling for a peaceful solution to an international row over Iran's nuclear program. The leaders of the two countries, in talks during a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Ankara, also insisted that Palestinian group Hamas should not be excluded from the Middle East peace process after this week's launch of indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israel. Medvedev, speaking at a joint news conference with President Abdullah Gul, said Iran must "adopt a constructive approach in some way," as the US and its allies rally for new UN sanctions against Tehran regarding its controversial nuclear program. "The Mideast must be a region free from nuclear weapons," Medvedev said. "The use of nuclear weapons in the region would be a disaster." Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who also had talks with Medvedev, told reporters, "We never accept nuclear weapons in our region and have been telling this to Iran repeatedly." Medvedev said Russia will hold talks with Iran and Israel on the issue. On Tuesday, Russia urged Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and open up its long-suspected but unannounced nuclear arsenal to the UN monitoring agency. On Iran, Medvedev said Russia wants a diplomatic solution and implied support for a formula proposed by non-permanent UN Security Council members Turkey and Brazil for a negotiated solution, saying efforts aiming at peaceful settlement will succeed if they receive necessary support. Medvedev also urged the US to actively work to achieve peace in the Middle East with the support of other nations, saying there is a human tragedy in Gaza. "The US must be active and other nations must contribute," Medvedev told the joint news conference with Gul. Washington recently launched US-mediated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but signs of trouble have already emerged. Stating that no one should be excluded from the Mideast peace process, referring to Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, Medvedev said, "We have to include all conflicting parties and not exclude anyone from this process." Gul said for his part that no peace can be achieved if Hamas isn't involved. "No one should be excluded when these talks are held," he said. "Unfortunately the Palestinians are split in two. They must be united and to unite them, there must be talks with both sides. The Hamas side won elections in Gaza and so can't be ignored." He added, "When Turkey talked with Hamas, it faced threats but it emerged that Turkey was right. You can't achieve peace by excluding people."