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Saudi Arabian FM in Turkey for talks over Bahrain tensions

18 March 2011 02:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal arrived in Turkey on Thursday night for talks with Turkish leaders over recent tensions in Bahrain, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

He met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkish President Abdullah Gul. The meetings were closed to press but expected to focus on the developments in Bahrain.

The visit came hours after about 50 Turks demonstrated outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Ankara against Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Bahrain.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, sent troops on Monday to Bahrain to maintain order and security. Most of the troops are from Saudi Arabia.

Davutoglu phoned his counterparts in Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday and expressed its concerns that Gulf security forces deployed in Bahrain could accelerate Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence in the Middle East region, said sources from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Davutoglu also urged Saudi Arabia and Iran, which were at odds over the presence of Gulf troops in Bahrain, to act with restraint, saying peace and stability were a dire need for the turbulent region, local newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called on the Bahraini government to prevent more bloodshed in the country, where clashes continued between protestors and security forces after a state of emergency for three months was declared to deal with sweeping unrest and protests.

"All parties should refrain from violence and the administration should listen to the people’s demands and expectations for reforms and democratization," said the ministry in a statement.

Bahrain’s Defense Forces on Wednesday imposed a curfew in several areas of the capital and moved against protesters with the backing of helicopters.

The Bahraini army said it has arrested what it called "leaders of the strife," who have called for toppling the government and communicating with foreign countries, Bahrain’s state-run BNA news agency reported on Thursday.