ANKARA, June 24: Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul flew Saturday to Tehran to offer himself as a “facilitator” in resolving the controversy over Iranian nuclear plans, saying he was acting as representative of a friend and neighbour of Iran.

“As a responsible member of the international community and as a friend and neighbour of Iran, it is our aim to contribute to getting the parties to go back to the same table,” he told journalists at the airport here.

Iran is currently evaluating a proposal from five permanent UN Security Council members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany to resolve the dispute peacefully.

The proposal promises incentives and multilateral talks if Iran agrees to temporarily halt the uranium enrichment that is at the centre of fears the Islamic Republic could develop nuclear weapons.

Gul spoke of intense Turkish diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions, and reaffirmed his view that the international package of incentives offered to Tehran last June 6 was a good opportunity to resolve the problem diplomatically.

But he did not disclose what he intended to say in Tehran.

Gul said that during the official one-day visit he would meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well as Ali Larijani, Iran’s nuclear negotiator, former president Ali Akbar Hachemi Rafsanjani, and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.—AFP