 Turkey ready to host Iran nuclear talks: reportAnkara (AFP) Nov 7, 2010 - Turkey is ready to host talks between Iran and six world powers over its disputed nuclear programme after a receiving a request from Tehran, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. "Turkey has made lots of efforts since the start of the process for a diplomatic solution to be found," the news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying. "We are ready to do whatever is in our power," the source said. The date and location of the talks is still to be determined, the report added. An Iranian conservative newspaper, Vatan Emrouz, on Sunday reported that the negotiations would be held by the end of November, without quoting a source. At the same time, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the world powers in the Iran negotiations, said Sunday that she was still waiting for official word from Tehran. "We have taken note of these reports. But we have not yet received an official proposal from Iran in this regard," a spokesman for her office said. The spokesman said the EU would respond once it had received an official proposal including a specific time and place to meet. The nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States -- have been deadlocked since October 2009 when the two sides met in Geneva. |
A response would follow after consultations with the major powers, her office said in Brussels.
Ashton proposed last month to hold the talks in Vienna -- headquarters of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency -- starting from November 15.
"In the last two or three days, we informed our Turkish friends that we agree to hold negotiations in Turkey," Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran.
Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili informed Ashton in October that his country was prepared to resume nuclear talks after November 10 at a time and place agreed by both sides.
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