Ahmadinejad to visit Turkey for nuclear talks

ANKARA-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Turkey next week to discuss his country's disputed nuclear program and growing bilateral ties, a Turkish official told Reuters on Monday.Ahmadinejad will hold talks with President Abdullah Gul during his one-day working visit to Istanbul on August 14, which comes after months of lobbying by Tehran.Turkey has offered to help resolve a dispute between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program, which Western powers fear is aimed at producing atomic weapons. Ankara has good ties with both neighboring Iran and the West."We are trying to help make Iran and Western countries understand each other well. We view this high level visit as an opportunity for the role we play," the official, who declined to be named, said.Iran and the representatives of six world powers talked by telephone on Monday but Tehran said it would press ahead with its nuclear program despite demands that it halt the work.Turkey and Iran have growing trade ties and are negotiating expanding energy cooperation. Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have also sought to boost Turkey's role as a regional problem solver in the Middle East.Ahmadinejad's visit, long rumored but reportedly delayed several times, has caused a stir in officially secular but predominantly Muslim Turkey.Turkey's secularist establishment, including army generals and judges, view Ahmadinejad with suspicion and previous President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had refused to invite him. Gul, a respected former foreign minister and ex-Islamist, was appointed president last year.
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