(DIP) TURKISH PREMIER SPEAKS TO GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER: "IRAN IS OUR FRIEND".

LONDON, Oct 26, 2009 (TUR) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "there is no doubt Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is our friend. As a friend so far we have very good relations and have had no difficulty at all."

The British Guardian newspaper gave broad place to an interview with the Turkish prime minister.

"The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has exposed divisions in NATO by accusing the west of treating Iran unfairly over its nuclear programme and describing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, its vehemently anti-western president, as a friend," the daily wrote.

The Guardian said, "Erdogan poured cold water on western accusations that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying: 'Iran does not accept it is building a weapon. They are working on nuclear power for the purposes of energy only'."

"In the interview, Erdogan down-played western fears that Iran wants to build an atomic bomb as 'gossip' and said a military strike against Iranian nuclear installations would be 'crazy'. He also strongly implied that those countries which were pressuring Iran to clarify its goals were guilty of hypocrisy because they all had nuclear weapons themselves," it commented.

The daily quoted Prime Minister Erdogan as saying, "there is a style of approach which is not very fair because those (who accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons) have very strong nuclear infrastructures and they don't deny that."

Erdogan told the newspaper, "the permanent members of the UN security council all have nuclear arsenals and then there are countries which are not members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which also have nuclear weapons. So although Iran doesn't have a weapon, those who say Iran shouldn't have them are those countries which do."

The daily said that Erdogan expressed concerns about threats mainly from Israel, and quoted him as saying, "those who are criticising Iran do not present their arguments very well. Sometimes threats are made. If the idea is to devastate Iran or somehow erase it altogether I don't think that would be right. "On the one hand you say you want global peace, on the other hand you are going to have such a destructive approach to a state which has 10,000 years of history. It is not correct."

The Guardian wrote that Erdogan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul were among the first foreign leaders to make congratulatory phone calls to Ahmadinejad after the elections in June. "Talking to the Guardian, Erdogan called the move a 'necessity of bilateral relations'. 'Mr Ahmadinejad was declared to be the winner, not officially, but with a large vote difference, and since he is someone we have met before, we called to congratulate him,' he said," the daily wrote.

The daily quoted Prime Minister Erdogan about the EU process, "among leaders in Europe there are those who have prejudices against Turkey, like France and Germany. Previously under Mr Chirac, we had excellent relations (with France) and he was very positive towards Turkey. But during the time of Mr Sarkozy, this is not the case. It is an unfair attitude. The European Union is violating its own rules. Being in the European Union we would be building bridges between the 1.5bn people of Muslim world to the non-Muslim world. They have to see this. If they ignore it, it brings weakness to the EU."

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)