Turkey Welcomes Hosting Next Round Of Nuclear Talks: Turkish Official

Ankara, Jan 15, IRNA -- Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said Monday that his country welcomes hosting fresh round of talks between Iran and the sextet. Talking to IRNA, Unal referred to two rounds of talks between senior officials from Iran and Group 5+1-- US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany-- which were held in Istanbul, Turkey, in the past. He also said Turkey has already hosted two expert meetings between the two sides. Asked whether the future talks will be held in Istanbul late January according to some media reports, the Turkish diplomat said his country has not been requested to do so. He further said Turkey will do whatever it can to solve this dispute through dialogue and diplomacy. Russian international news agency (RIA Novosti) reported last Friday that Iran and the sextet were to meet in Istanbul, adding the date of the meeting has yet to be set. In his recent visit to India, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili had said Tehran and G5+1 would continue talks in January, 2013./end