ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkey on Saturday summoned the Iranian ambassador to Ankara over Iran’s “aggressive” reaction to the Turkish president reciting a poem during a visit to Azerbaijan, which Tehran considered supporting Iran’s partition of the Azeri ethnic areas.
The diplomatic gap between neighboring Iran and Turkey began when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan, read parts of a poem during a march in the Caucasus capital, Baku. The verses Erdogan read contained lines about how ancient Azeri or Azerbaijan “tore” a border.
In a statement on Saturday, Bahraini al-Dunn, director of communications in Turkey, said that Iranians had distorted the meaning of the poem “to provoke irrational tensions”.
The Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers spoke by phone later on Saturday. A Turkish Foreign Ministry official told Mevlut Cavusoglu that his public statements from Tehran targeting the Turkish leader were “unsubstantiated” and “unacceptable” when other means of communication between the two governments were available.
In a telephone call, the Iranian state-run news agency reported that Erdogan had given full assurance that Erdogan fully respected Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The IRNA added that the Turkish diplomat was unaware of the sensitivity surrounding the lines read in his presidential address.
Altoon said the Iranian ambassador to Ankara was summoned to the foreign ministry late on Friday. This came after the Iranian foreign ministry briefed the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on Erdogan’s “intervention and unacceptable” views in Baku.
Alton said the poem emotionally reflects the emotional experience of people in pain due to the occupation of the lands of Argentina and Azerbaijan. There is no mention of Iran in it. ”
Iran’s three northwestern provinces – western Azerbaijan, eastern Azerbaijan and Ardabil – make up the majority of the Turkish – speaking Azerbaijani population.
Erdogan visited Baguio and recently took part in a march celebrating the ceasefire agreement, which allowed Azerbaijan to regain control of the surrounding lands in the conflict with Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
“It should not be forgotten that Turkey stood by the Iranian government and people in solidarity with Iran, despite the danger of enduring international pressure during difficult times,” Alton said in a statement.
Despite fighting on the opposite side of regional conflicts such as the Syrian war and tough US trade sanctions against Iran, Tehran and Ankara have largely maintained good relations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif underscored the importance of friendly relations between the two neighbors in his phone call with his Turkish envoy on Saturday.