Ahmadinejad and Erdoğan: Will They Meet Today?0555 GMT: We start the day by sifting through the visit of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Tehran.
As expected, both sides are spinning their positions on political and economic issues. As expected, Iran is publicly pushing back against any Turkish pressure to distance itself from Syrian President Assad or to adjust its approach towards Iraq. As expected, Iranian media are proclaming Ankara's support for Tehran's nuclear programme, ahead of talks in mid-April between Iran and the 5+1 Powers, with this soundbite from Erdoğan: "No one has the right to use coercive force against a country whose activities are aimed at peaceful nuclear purposes."
What was not expected was this --- from the Turkish newspaper Zaman:
A scheduled meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was postponed on Wednesday after Iran said the president is suffering of gastrorrhagia....
Erdoğan will be meeting Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as the Iranian President on Thursday.
Gastrorrhagia is "upper gastrointestinal bleeding". It sounds more serious than an upset stomach or the after-effects of a heavy meal, and a postponed meeting between Presidents --- especially given the high-profile issues such as Syria and the nuclear talks --- is a far from incidental development. Yet there is no mention of this in Iranian State outlets such as IRNA and Press TV this morning.
Perhaps this is all just a flutter and we will soon be seeing the photos of smiling Erdoğan and smiling Ahmadinejad. But just in case we do not, let us put forth both the possibility of serious bleeding in the President's abdomen and serious bleeding in his political position at home.
Posted via email from lissping
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