Turkey's foreign minister says Iran nuclear talks will resume

SHANGHAI (A.A) - January 8, 2012 - Turkey's foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran nuclear negotiations would resume. Ahmet Davutoglu said Iran and P5+1 (five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council including the United States, China, France, Russian Federation and the United Kingdom, plus Germany) would resume negotiations on Iran's nuclear program in Turkey. In an exclusive interview with Japan's economy newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), Davutoglu talked about his recent visit to Iran and said he spoke to European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "Both parties agreed in principle to hold talks in Turkey, and I hope negotiations will begin as soon as possible," Davutoglu said. Davutoglu said sanctions imposed on Iran by Europe and the United States did not bind Turkey. In his interview, Davutoglu also referred to developments in Syria, Turkish-Japanese relations and talks on a planned nuclear power plant in Turkey. Davutoglu said Turkey and Japan could sign a nuclear cooperation agreement in spring, and he wanted to visit this country in spring to boost bilateral relations. Minister Davutoglu said Turkey trusted Japan's nuclear technology and safety, and therefore wanted to maintain its cooperation with Japan in construction of a nuclear power plant. Turkey is planning to build two nuclear power plants in the north and south in the next decade.      Turkey and Japan resumed talks on construction of Turkey's second nuclear power plant in Sinop on July 31.      Turkey has been engaged in talks with Japan since last year to build country's second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea coastal province of Sinop in the north. However, talks were interrupted after the massive earthquake that hit Japan last March.      Japan's magnitude-9 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima.  Davutoglu said Turkey and Japan would establish a political and economic strategic dialogue mechanism. On Syria, Davutoglu said if security posed a higher risk for Turkey in case of more flow of Syrian people into Turkey, Turkey would bring up the issue to the UN.