BELGIUM: Iran talks likely in Turkey and hope for credible election results in Afghanistan says the EU

Record ID: 276964

  • Title: BELGIUM: Iran talks likely in Turkey and hope for credible election results in Afghanistan says the EU
  • Date: 16th September 2009
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (SEPTEMBER 15, 2009) (REUTERS) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA ARRIVING PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA, COMMENTING ON IRAN, SAYING "It has not been finally decided, I think very likely it will be Turkey, but we are working.. " (Q: Turkey?) "Very likely not sure yet, we have to con
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5JX23EKOANHBQ5QXZTS5J6TI0
  • Story Text: The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels on Tuesday (September 15) that the negotiations between world powers and Tehran on Iran's nuclear programme scheduled for Oct. 1 will most likely take place in Turkey.
    The lead negotiator on Iran spoke after a dinner of EU leaders on Iran at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
    "It has not been finally decided, I think very likely it will be Turkey," Solana told reporters. "we have to continue working with our Turkish friends to see when it is convenient for them."
    Asked if sanctions against Iran are avoidable at this stage, Solana said: "At this point in time we are going to try to enter into negotiations. You know that we have been supporting all along a double track approach and that has been our policy."
    The "Twin track" Western policy towards Iran means offering incentives to Iran to abandon a nuclear programme the West suspects is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, while holding out the threat of further sanctions.
    But Solana said now was not the time to talk about fresh sanctions.
    "It's not the first time that we meet, we know each other well, some things are new. The Americans will be present in a formalised manner, this is new, and I think it has to be evaluated positively by the Iranians."
    Iran has agreed to wide-ranging talks with six world powers but has ruled out discussing its nuclear activities, which it says are for peaceful generation of electricity.
    The United States and the European Union insist Tehran's nuclear efforts must be the focus of the talks.
    Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said he held little hope that the October meeting would resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran but said that it must be seen, at the very least, as a positive step.
    "I don't expect that to happen in one meeting, to put it in the mildest possible terms, but the fact we have had an answer, and the fact that there will be be a meeting is a positive step. I wouldn't make too much of it but it's a small positive step," Bildt said.
    The EU presidency's Europe minister, Sweden's Alexander Stubb, said failure to move could lead to EU-wide sanctions but insisted that all other diplomatic measures had to be followed through first.
    "On Iran we have three steps. Step number one is to have a dialogue and that dialogue will most probably take place pretty soon, with the Americans and the Europeans together. Step number two, if those dialogues don't lead to a result we will have to go towards UN sanctions. If we don't get UN sanctions then we will have to think about unilateral EU sanctions," he said.
    On Afghanistan the EU ministers agreed that it was not the right time to judge the election process and the accusations of electoral fraud. However they insisted that any allegation would have to be investigated in order to ensure the credibility of the new government.
    The general view is that the elections, in the end, did not go as badly as they could have done given the serious security issues but credibility does remain an important priority.
    "I think we have to take two perspectives on this. One is a security perspective and we can quite comfortably say, looking at all the circumstances, the elections went quite well. It's quite clear that if there has been broad fraud, if you will, we will have to take a very close look at it and take and EU decision on what we are going to do but we will have to wait for the ECC results before that," said Stubb.
    France said the best they could hope for was the "least bad" outcome for Afghanistan.
    "Well its very difficult to know since we don't have the figures. It would appear, according to what you and I have read, that he maintains a majority. Now if he gets below 50 percent there will be problems for the second round. Now for the moment the loss of votes is not such, since he had 54, that we can ask ourselves the question. But what we can wish for is that out of these elections, which are a considerable event - no one wanted them, people were threatened - that out of these elections come a government which is the least bad, the least corrupted, the most credible for Afghanistan and that allies, during that time, continue to get closer to the population, in a place which is horribly difficult," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
    Germany said it had got broad support for a 10-point plan it put forward on Afghanistan.
    German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier said the EU needs a clear agreement with the new Afghan president on the country's priorities, policies and clear plans for the NATO involvement.
    But the first thing is to ensure fair elections and he insisted on investigating any allegations.
    "I say it clearly: we cannot ignore allegations of fraud and we will insist among the European foreign ministers that these will be scrutinized. It is crucial that the newly elected president has the respect of the whole Afghan population," he said.
    In London the U.S. ambassador to NATO dismissed concerns on Monday that Washington's European allies were wavering in their commitment to the mission in Afghanistan.
    The ambassador has called for the new U.S. strategy to be given time to work.
    Some of the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion has led to soul-searching in some countries. Polls show most Germans and Britons want their troops to come home.
    NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last week he was concerned public debate on Afghanistan was going in the wrong direction and said a rush to withdraw was not an option.
    European leaders want "Afghanistan", with more Afghan forces trained to take over security responsibilities from foreign forces. Britain, France and Germany have proposed an international conference this year to discuss the issue.
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