Close cooperation between Tehran and Ankara bodes well for regional security and stability, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
"Cooperation between Iran and Turkey is essential for the welfare, peace, security and stability of the region," Soylu said in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, in Tehran on Saturday, IRNA reported.
The two sides' common stance on Middle East issues has drawn them closer in recent months.
They have been involved in an initiative with Russia to end the Syria war and forged a joint front in support of the Baghdad government to counter a Kurdish separatist vote on Sept. 25 in Iraq and deal with its aftermath.
During the Saturday meeting, Fazli called for broader bilateral interaction to help defuse plots by the two nations' common enemies.
"If we expand the scope of our cooperation, we can thwart the schemes hatched by enemies," he said.
The minister noted that the talks covered a range of issues from border security to the campaign against terrorism, drug and human trafficking.
"We discussed the implementation of Iran-Turkey security agreement … We also agreed to continue our discussions in a meeting of the two countries' joint security commission in Turkey to draw up a roadmap for the implementation of the security agreement," Fazli said, without specifying when the meeting would take place.
Tehran and Ankara have stepped up military ties as evidenced by recent reciprocal meetings between Chairman of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri and his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Tehran in early October to confer with the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani on regional and international issues. The two neighbors, which are key economic partners, plan to triple last year's $10 billion trade transactions by 2018.
