Iranian MPs Decry Turkish President’s Divisive Comments
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s lawmakers issued a statement in condemnation of the “unacceptable and divisive” remarks from the president of Turkey who created controversy after reciting a poem in Baku.
The statement, signed by 214 Iranian MPs, was issued on Sunday.
The lawmakers denounced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “divisive language”, saying he is expected to respect good neighborliness and push for Muslim unity and regional peace and stability.
The statement strongly condemned the “surprising and unacceptable” comments made by the Turkish leader.
Erdogan provoked controversy when he recited lines from a folk song that laments partitioning of the lands inhabited by Azeri people by the Aras river.
Erdogan was in Baku to review a military parade marking the Republic of Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in a recent war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu underlined the close and friendly relations between Turkey and Iran, giving an assurance that Erdogan fully respects Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The senior Turkish diplomat explained that Erdogan had not been aware of the sensitivity surrounding the lines he recited and associated the poem only with Lachin and Karabakh, which is why he recited it in the recent event in Baku.
