Turkey’s communications director on Saturday condemned Iranian authoritiesover unfair accusations against the Turkish president after he had read apoem during a ceremony in Azerbaijan.
Fahrettin Altun condemned aggressive statements made against PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey on the pretext of a poem deliberately takenout of context.
Reminding that Erdogan had read a poem by Azerbaijani poet BakhtiyarVahabzadeh at the Victory Parade in Baku after the liberation of theAzerbaijani territories, Altun added that it was an attempt to produce anartificial tension through a poem and that Iran’s name was not evenmentioned in the poem.
He said the poem emotionally reflects on the feelings of people who werevictims of the Armenian occupation of the Azerbaijani lands.
Altun said instead of sharing the enthusiasm of the rightful victory of aneighboring country and instead of sharing the joy of victory with thepeople, he found it hard to understand the distortion of the meaning of apoem, trying to create a meaningless tension and displaying an attitudewhich would please Armenia.
He said their reaction towards the unjust accusations made by the Iranianauthorities and their expectation of a sensitive approach was brought tothe attention of the Iranian ambassador to Ankara, who was summoned to theTurkish Foreign Ministry on Friday.
Altun said at a time when peace, stability, and security of the regionimpose great responsibilities on the two countries, it is extremelyimportant to carefully avoid all kinds of attitudes and discourses that mayovershadow the bilateral relations.
“We advise the Iranian authorities to get rid of this delusional mood assoon as possible and to take advantage of our common historical past andstrong ties between our peoples to create a positive agenda, and nothostility,” he said.
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman Omer Celikalso condemned Iranian politicians over their language against the Turkishpresident.
He said these politicians have lost their way and are confused about Iran’senemies, since the Turkish president has always regarded Iran as a friendlyand brotherly country.
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Celik reminded that only Erdogan raised his voice against sanctions on Iranwhile everybody else remained silent.
“Our president has always opposed injustices against brotherly Iran.Iranian politicians who overstep should be respectful when talking aboutour president,” Celik said.
Earlier Friday Iran summoned Turkey’s ambassador to the country over a poemErdogan read out during a ceremony in Azerbaijan.
Ambassador Derya Ors was summoned by Iran’s deputy foreign minister to betold Tehran’s “harsh condemnation”, Foreign Ministry spokesman SaeedKhatibzadeh said in a written statement.
Ors was also told that Iran urgently expects an explanation, the statementadded.
On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that thepoem Erdogan read out targeted Iran’s territorial integrity.
On Thursday, Erdogan attended a victory parade in Azerbaijan’s capital Bakuto mark the country’s recent military success in liberatingNagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions from nearly 30 years of Armenianoccupation.
