ANKARA - A senior Turkish diplomat said Thursday that Turkey had not offered itself as a country to solve Iran nuclear standoff while signing the uranium swap deal, however, he said Turkey took a step forward in uranium swap issue which he said was an important part of Iran`s nuclear file.
Foreign ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said, "now we have the right to wait for a response from the other party with goodwill. It is Iran`s right too."
"We are not an advocate of Iran against 5 1 countries [five permanent members of the Security Council - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany] or vice versa. We have just taken action based on principles," Ozugergin told a press briefing.
Last week, Turkey and Brazil sealed a deal with Tehran under which Iran would ship much of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey.
"The result we achieved in Tehran is really important for diplomacy," he said. "But yes, half of the glass is empty. But it is our right to wait for an action to fill that glass."
Asked about comments that recent uranium swap deal could cause a crisis between Turkey and the United States, Ozugergin slammed such comments, saying, "why would there be a crisis? We are following a transparent foreign policy. We have long been saying that all countries have the right to possess nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and that we are against weapons of mass destruction in our region."
"The word `crisis` can no way be included in a paragraph which describes our relations with the United States," he said.