Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, have held the first round of their bilateral talks in Isfahan on Friday morning. During the talks, Cavusoglu expressed satisfaction with his visit to Iran and the historical and cultural city of Isfahan, and said Ankara is ready to deepen and strengthen mutual ties with Iran in various political, economic and cultural fields. Zarif, in turn, said bilateral ties between Iran and Turkey have been moving in the right direction. He said the visit of his Turkish counterpart is highly significant for developing strategic relations and the signing of a document on political consultations between the Iranian and Turkish foreign ministries. The Iranian FM also referred to the recent meeting between the presidents of Iran and Turkey in Tajikistan and the agreements reached earlier between the two sides, expressing Iran’s readiness to increase the volume of bilateral trade. The two officials also exchanged views on issues in energy, banking, and tourism. Zarif visited Ankara in April and met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following a visit to Damascus where he held talks with the head of the regime, Bashar al-Assad. The Iranian FM discussed efforts to normalize ties with regional countries including Turkey and Syria. Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem renewed the necessity of pulling out Turkish forces from Syria and halting support to terrorist groups for the sake of normalizing ties between Damascus and Ankara.  During a TV interview on Wednesday, Moualem reiterated the remarks he made in Beijing on Tuesday that Syria doesn’t seek a military confrontation with Turkey. “Idlib is a Syrian province and the operations the Syrian army is conducting are on Syrian soil and a legitimate right towards liberating the land,” he said. Moualem added that he was placing no conditions other than those providing the basis to any ties between neighboring countries.