Turkey president in Tehran eyeing enhancement of bilateral ties

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Tuesday morning for talks with Iranian top officials.

Erdogan's one-day visit to Iran comes at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, aiming at the enhancement of economic and trade relations between the two neighbors.

Erdogan will attend the second High Level Cooperation Council meeting, an intergovernmental conference which was set up in January 2014 and the first meeting of which was held in June last year during Ruohani's visit to Ankara.

Both countries have announced a joint target of increasing bilateral trade to 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2015 from the level of 13.7 billion dollars in 2014.

Meanwhile, Erdogan will hold meeting with Rouhani to further discuss multi-dimensional relations between the two states and the latest regional developments. He is also scheduled to meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran and Turkey's relations are facing a number of challenges, including the difference in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

In his recent remarks, Erdogan accused Tehran of aiding Shiite Houthis in Yemen, calling on Iran to pull out its forces from Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

Iran has denied its military supports to Yemen, Syria and Iraq, reiterating that it only provides consultatory aid to those countries in the face of terrorist threats. Endit