Turkey Summons Iran Ambassador over Views on Syria: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iranian ambassador over what it called Tehran’s criticism of Ankara’s policies toward Syria.
The Iranian envoy, Alireza Bigdeli, was reportedly summoned over the statements made by the Iranian officials criticizing the Turkish government’s stances toward the crisis in Syria.
“Turkey does not need to ask permission from anyone for taking measures in line with international law against threats to its national security,” Anadolu Agency quoted Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tanju Bilgic, as saying on Friday.
Bilgic added that Turkey denounces remarks by the Iranian officials, who he said should remain silent over the situation in Kobane and the humanitarian tragedy in the region as Iran has supported the Syrian regime that is the main cause of the problem.
The Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane has been subject to ferocious attacks by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants over the past month.
ISIL fighters have captured hundreds of Kurdish villages around the border town, forcing some 200,000 of people to flee.
Meanwhile, Turkey, an outspoken critic of Syria’s legitimate President Bashar al-Assad, has refused to help the Kurdish people besieged in Kobane. Ankara has already been under fire for sponsoring insurgent groups fighting against the Syrian government.
Since the beginning of the clashes in the border town, there has been an increasing degree of pressure from the international community for Turkey to intervene militarily in the crisis in the region.
Different observers wrote pieces criticizing Turkey's caution to use its military to aid the forces fighting against ISIL to defend Kobane and provide passage to its fleeing residents.
