iran daily 2 (2)
- 1. Thousands of scared foreign holidaymakers were being flown from Tunisia on Saturday after a terrorist killed 38 people, most of them British tourists, at a beach resort. Meanwhile, a major German tour opera- tor said more than 300 customers who had planned to travel to Tunisia this summer have called asking to change their bookings, most of them seeking to change destinations. The ISIL terrorist group claimed responsi- bility for the attack, the deadliest in Tunisias recent history. So far, 10 of the dead have been identified. Eight were British, one was Belgian and one was German, the Tunisian Health Ministry said. In London, Prime Minister David Cameron warned the country needed to prepare for the fact that many of those killed in the attack were British. The process of identification was taking time because the victims were not carrying documentation with them on the beach, the Tunisian authorities said. Another 39 people were wounded when the assailant pulled a gun from inside a beach umbrella and opened fire on crowds of tourists on the beach and by a hotel pool in the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui. Prime Minister Habib Essid on Saturday an- nounced that from next month armed tourist security officers would be deployed all along the coast and inside hotels. But a heavy blow had already been de- livered to the key industry with British tour operator Thomas Cook announcing it would offer all customers the possibility to change bookings to the North African country up to and including July 24. The Association of British Travel Agents said it was consulting with the Foreign Office about the longer term. Kurdish fighters said they fully secured the Syrian border town of Kobani on Saturday and killed more than 60 ISIL terrorists, two days after the group launched bomb attacks in the Syrian border city. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the Syr- ian Kurdish YPG militia said around eight members of ISIL group had also escaped north towards the Turkish border after the Kurds pushed back, Reuters reported. There are still search operations in neighborhoods where they might be hiding. The town is quiet now, he said in an online message. In Syrias northeast, Kurdish forc- es and the army fought separate battles with ISIL around Hasaka city overnight as the terrorist group tried to capture more areas of the major urban centre near the Iraqi border, the so-called Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Saturday. In Kobani, the YPG blew up a school building used by ISIL earlier on Saturday, the report said, and plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the air from the Turkish side of the border. ISIL killed around 200 civilians in the town and surrounding areas in the attack which started on Thursday, the report said, describing it as one of the worst massacres committed by the group in Syria. Kobani was the site of one of the biggest battles against ISIL group last year. The Kurdish YPG force drove the terrorists back from the town after four months of fighting and siege. The YPG previously described the lat- est attack on Kobani as a suicide mission rather than an attempt to capture the town. In the northeast, ISIL does seem to be at- tempting to wrest Hasaka city from govern- ment control. Syrian state television said on Saturday the city was safe and under control, but the report said fierce clashes continued in the southwest, south and southeast. Hasaka is important to all sides fighting in an area that sits between ISIL-held territory in Syria and Iraq and which reaches north up to the Turkish border. Number 5102 Sunday June 28, 2015 Tir 7, 1394 Ramadan 11, 1436 Price 5,000 Rials 12 Pages www.irandailyonline.ir Velayati: Takfiri terrorists to plague their supporters In-form Iran powers to victory against Poland2 11 IME weekly trade hits $180m Greek PM announces bailout referendum Iranian filmmaker wins Lenzing award at Festival of Nations 4 5 12 Hard work ahead in nuclear talks S enior US and Iranian officials said hard work was still needed as they met in Vienna on Saturday for what could be their final negotiations to bridge significant differences on an agreement on Irans nuclear program. However, they are hopeful of a successful outcome. With a self-imposed deadline approaching on Tuesday, both sides emphasized that major obstacles remained to finalizing a nuclear deal. We have a lot of hard work to do. We have some very tough is- sues, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, according to a State Department draft transcript. I agree. Maybe not on the issues. But on the fact that we need to work really hard in order to be able to make progress and move forward, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was cited as saying in the transcript. Nonetheless, Kerry also said he was hopeful of a successful outcome. His meeting with Zarif ended after 90 minutes. Continued on Page 2 Record rise in foreign investments in IranIrans media reported on Saturday that foreign investments in the country had seen an unprecedented three-time rise in the second quarter of 2015. Foreign investments in Iran over the period had reached as high as $3 billion. The figure was higher than the total of $2.1 billion of foreign investments made in the country from March 2014- 2015, IRNA reported. The Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran (OIETAI) has been quoted as announcing in a statement that the rise has been the result of massive planning as well as a stronger economic stability in Iran for the past two years. Continued on Page 2 Iran and Turkey: Partners or rivals? By Sadeq Dehqan & Farzam Vanaki As two main regional powers, Iran and Turkey have long been major economic rivals. Experts believe that it is in the interest of both sides to, initially, become trade partners and use each others capacities to access the markets of surrounding states. Turkey sees Iran as the gate- way to great Eastern markets while Tehran holds that it can boost presence in major West- ern markets through Ankara. In case the two countries share resources and capitals, they will manage to send their products to more regional markets. Both sides, however, have not yet used opportunities in boosting joint production and investment properly and even do not have any comprehen- sive information of one anothers capacities and potentials. In an exclusive interview with Iran Daily, Jalal Ebrahimi, the chairman of Iran-Turkey Joint Trade Council, maintained that Turkeys hesitation in investing in Iranian projects, will be great- ly harmful for both sides, particularly Ankara, since, given the increased probability of Tehrans success in nuclear negotiations with P5+1, a large number of states are now in a rush to enter the countrys market once they 鍖nd the time is ripe. This will make the competition even more intense for Turkey. Excerpts of the interview follow: IRAN DAILY: Would you please expound on the history of the two countriesrelations? JALAL EBRAHIMI: The two sides trade ties date back to a long time when the Eastern Roman Empire ruled both Ancient Rome and Anatolia. Iranian traders used to travel to Mediter- ranean coasts and exchanged goods with European merchants. Throughout history, Turkey has always been Irans best gateway to the markets of European countries. Iran played the same role for Turkey with regard to Eastern markets. The two countries have always needed to maintain favorable trade ties with each other.At present, Turkey still plays very much the same role, though Iran has tried its luck to find other entries to Europe including Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Turkey sends products to East and Central Asian nations and the Persian Gulf littoral states through Iran. Two free trade and industrial zones of Aras and Maku have been established on the two countries joint borders which are also adjacent to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two strategic zones play a very significant role in boosting mutual trade. How do you evaluate transactions? In 2014, transactions between Iran and Turkey amounted to $14.2 billion, of which $9.2 pertained to exchange of oil, gas and petrochemicals and the rest were related to trade of non-oil products. In the first five month of 2015, Iran imported non-oil goods worth $1.59 billion from Turkey and ranked eighth among the countrys export destinations. Major Iranian export items to Turkey include gas, oil products, petrochemicals such as metha- nol, paraffin wax and different types of ethylene, salambor sheep skin, nuts, minerals, building stones and honey. In addition, agro crops constitute a major portion of Tehrans exports to Ankara. Turkeys exports to Iran comprise of Medium Density Fiber- boards, different kinds of wood, clothes, textiles, jewels and gold, industrial spare parts, machineries and metals. Continued on Page 4 ISIL ousted from Syrias Kobani inveIrans med country h quarter of Foreign as $3 billi of foreign 2015, IRN The Org Assistanc statement ll Iran raps minimal intl cooperation in fighting drugs Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli expressed regret that the international cooperation with the Islamic Republic in the war against il- licit drugs has remained at its minimal level. Speaking at a ceremony marking the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Saturday, Rahmani Fazli pointed to Irans prox- imity to Afghanistan, which produces 80 percent of the worlds traditional narcotics, saying that being a neighbor to the country is one of the root causes of the spread of illicit drugs in Iran, Tasnim News Agency reported. This is while, unfortunately, (inter- national) cooperation with Iran in the fight against narcotics is at the lowest, the interior minister said. He further emphasized that if the international bodies and other coun- tries cooperate with Iran, the campaign against illicit drugs will definitely achieve its objectives more effectively. Also on Saturday, Iran burned hun- dreds of tons of drugs recovered from traffickers. President Hassan Rouhani, in a mes- sage to the ceremony, said the day provides an opportunity for raising awareness and attracting public support against destructive harms of narcotic drugs as well as offering mechanisms in the relentless and overall campaign with such an immense social problem. The message deplored the fact that the youth who are the productive force and supportive of the future develop- ment of the country are among prime victims of the deadly trade. Iran, due to its neighborhood with a country which is the main source of the cultivation, production and conse- quently activities of the criminals and organized and transnational crimes, is exposed to the heaviest human harms and destructive outcome of the traffick- ing of drugs and addiction. In recent decades, Iran has been hit by drug trafficking, mainly because of its 936-kilometer shared border with Afghanistan. The war on drugs trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 3,700 Iranian police officers over the past 30 years. Iran suffers severe drug-related prob- lems, mostly due to heroin and meth- amphetamine use. IE xclusive Tourists scramble to leave Tunisia after ISILmassacre AFP A picture taken from the Turkish side of the border in Suruc, Sanliurfa Province, shows a Turkish solider standing as smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani on June 27, 2015.