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Britain's Straw Says Iran "Crucial to Future World Direction", IRNA

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Iranian news agency IRNA website

London, 28 September: Both Iran and Turkey are fundamental for the future of resolving global conflict, according to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"Each is overwhelmingly Muslim and each, in their separate ways, is crucial to whether the world can be bound together, or fractured along deep political and theological divides," Straw told delegates Wednesday [28 September] at the annual conference of the UK's ruling Labour Party.

Earlier, he told the BBC, that there were very important implications for the way the issue of Iran's nuclear programme and Turkey's bid to join the EU are dealt with.

"I believe the way we handle Turkey and Iran separately will determine in a very fundamental way, (the) geopolitical landscape for years and years to come," the foreign secretary said.

At the conference in Brighton, southern England, he spoke about the "hard going" attempts, led by Britain, France and Germany to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme but held out the prospect that the effort could prove to be mutually beneficial.

"By declaring Iran non-compliant with its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as we did last Saturday, the international community sent a strong signal to Iran that commitments had to be respected," Straw said.

"But if Iran does come into compliance the door will be thrown wide open to cooperation - economic, political and social - between another great people and the European Union," he said.

With regard to Turkey, the foreign secretary said that the "no less daunting challenge" was EU membership, which was first sought 42 years ago.

"Turkey would lose from a "no" decision. But Europe and its people would lose even more," he said, in appealing to EU foreign ministers to proceed with accession talks at their meeting next Monday.

"Anchor Turkey in the West and we gain a beacon of democracy and modernity - a country with a Muslim majority - which will be a shining example across the whole of its neighbouring region," Straw argued.

In his speech, he also signalled that Britain may be adopting a slightly less partisan policy towards the Middle East conflict by also putting an onus on Israel to deliver peace.

"The Israelis must stop all settlement activity, stop the confiscation of Palestinian land, and alter the route of their security wall," the foreign secretary said to the applause of delegates.

He also repeated that Britain's previous emphasis for the Palestinians must press on with the reform of their security services and "dismantle all terrorist organizations".

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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