Iranian Buses Facing Problems in Turkey: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian transportation official criticized Turkey for fining a number of Iranian buses and forcing them to return, saying that Tehran is pursuing the issue through diplomatic channels.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Mohammad Javad Atrchian, the director general of the office for transit and border terminals of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, said the Turkish government's move to fine and deport the Iranian buses has been made "without coordination" with the Iranian embassy in Ankara or Iran's Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
"For this reason, we conveyed our objection to the Turkish side through diplomatic channels,' he said, adding that the issue is being investigated.
Atrchian further said the reason behind Turkey's move is not clear and that Ankara has yet to explain it to Iran.
Turkey is always creating problems in road transportation between the two countries and that complicates bilateral relations, he went on to say.
Back in October 2014, a crisis between Turkey and Iran over truck transit fees heated up when the two sides increased transit fee on trucks crossing their borders.
Tehran said Turkey’s latest hike in border passage fees was against the law and that Iran would “reserve its right to apply the rule of reciprocity,” media reports said at the time.
Iran said fuel prices were much lower in the country due to state subsidies, adding that the difference between the two countries’ fuel prices could be taken as a transit fee, as stipulated in the fifth article of the agreement between Turkey and Iran on road transportation signed in 1994.
