Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country hoped the ongoing popular demonstrations in Iran would end and stability would be restored as soon as possible. In a speech during the discussion over next year’s Turkish foreign budget in parliament on Monday, Cavusoglu said that Turkey maintained the policy of “good-neighborliness” with Iran in a way that serves the common interests of the two countries. He added that his country has strengthened the existing cooperation with Tehran in many areas, most importantly trade, tourism, transportation and energy. Most Iranian cities have been witnessing large demonstrations and protests over a government decision to raise fuel prices, in light of the continuing economic crisis, which has been exacerbated by US sanctions on Iran over its nuclear file. Cavusoglu stressed that his country maintained consultations with Iran on regional issues, especially the Syrian crisis, which has been going on since 2011. “We have responded in a similar way to Iranian criticism of our military operations in Syria, and expressed our opposition to sanctions against Iran that are hurting the Iranian people and regional trade,” he remarked. The Turkish minister noted that his country was located in a geographic area full of challenges, pointing out that Ankara must follow a multi-dimensional foreign policy, under the regional circumstances. Iran is Turkey’s main exporter of natural gas. Turkey also used to import crude oil from Iran, but stopped imports in May in compliance with the US sanctions, despite earlier criticism and assurances that it would not comply.