Tehran and Ankara affirm depth of “friendly relations” in attempt to contain tension



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Çavuşolu: “Ankara’s stated policy is good neighborliness with Iran” (Anatolia)

The Foreign Ministers of Iran and Turkey, Muhammad Javad Zarif and Mevlüt Çavuşolu confirmed, this Saturday night, in a telephone call the depth of the “friendship” between the two countries, in an attempt to contain the tension in the context of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s poetry verses in the Azerbaijani capital Baku last Thursday. Tehran considered it a threat to Iranian territorial integrity.

A statement from Iran’s Foreign Ministry, seen by Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, mentioned that Turkey’s Foreign Minister had contacted his Iranian counterpart, highlighting the “close friendship between Iran and Turkey,” saying that “Ankara’s affirmative policy is good neighborliness” with Iran.

Ihsanoglu assured the Iranian side that the Turkish president “fully respects Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” stating that he was “unaware of (Iranian) sensitivities about the poetry he had recited,” adding that it was based in “Lachin” and “Karabakh”.

For his part, Zarif stressed, during the call, “the importance of friendly relations derived from respect between the two countries, as well as the intimate relations between the President of the Republic of Turkey and senior officials of the Islamic Republic,” expressing their hope of “expanding bilateral relations on the basis of mutual trust more than ever.” .

Shortly after Erdogan recited poetic verses at the celebration, sadly symbolizing the forced separation between the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Iranian region of Azerbaijan, a diplomatic crisis erupted between Turkey and Iran, and the two sides withdrew ambassadors amid of severe Iranian attacks against Turkey and its president. I consider that the Turkish president attacked the Iranian territorial integrity, accusing He was incited by the Iranian Azerbaijanis to separate the Iranian region of Azerbaijan from Iran and annex it to the state of Azerbaijan.

In the first Iranian comment that was of a sharp nature, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif wrote early Friday in a tweet via Twitter that “Erdogan was not told that the poem he misread in Baku was about the forced separation between the regions north of the Ars river. And his homeland is Iran. Didn’t Erdogan know that he spoke out against the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan? ”

Tehran then summoned the Turkish ambassador and protested “fiercely” against the Turkish president by launching those verses, before Ankara reciprocated by summoning the Iranian ambassador, in protest at what it described as the publication of “accusations” against Erdogan. Ankara says the Iranians misunderstood Erdogan’s verses and that they were “out of context.”

In the latest Turkish comment, the spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkey, Omar Celik, described the Iranian attack on Saturday, through statements by several politicians against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as “the rejoicing of Tehran’s enemies.” , and described Erdogan as a friend of Iran during its crises.



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