Regional rivals Turkey, Iran trade Syria barbs

ISTANBUL: Diplomatic tensions escalated between Turkey and Iran yesterday as the regional powers traded accusations over their roles in the Syria conflict and the Middle East. The pair have been rivals for centuries but have sought to forge a pragmatic relationship in recent years, with the Islamic Republic strongly supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after last year’s failed coup. But mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey and Shiite Iran have been on opposite sides of the conflict in Syria, with Ankara seeking the ouster of President Bashar Al-Assad and Tehran, along with Russia, his key backer.

The tensions come with UN-backed peace talks for Syria due to restart on Thursday and Turkey engaged in fierce fighting inside Syria to capture the town of Al-Bab from jihadists. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu lashed out at Iran in a speech to the Munich Security Conference at the weekend, saying some of its actions had undermined security in the region and urging Tehran to promote stability. “Iran wants to make Syria and Iraq Shiite,” he was quoted as saying by Turkish state media.

Erdogan has also in recent weeks accused Iran of promoting a “Persian nationalism” that had damaged the Middle East. The Iranian foreign ministry on Monday summoned the Turkish envoy to issue a protest after Cavusoglu’s comments while spokesman Bahram Ghassemi warned that Tehran’s patience “has limits”. “We hope that such statements are not made again. If our Turkish friends continue with this attitude we will not remain silent,” he added.

Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu hit back by saying it was “incomprehensible” to receive such accusations from Tehran who he charged with “not hesitating to push into war zones refugees sheltering from regional crises.” “Instead of accusing countries that have criticised Iran, it should take constructive steps and review its own regional policies.”