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Iranian ambassador summoned to Turkish Foreign Ministry for explanation

04 April 2012 16:52 (UTC +04:00)

Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu said meetings were held in the atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding during the visit of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iran, but the statement issued soon after the visit contradicted this mutual respect and understanding. Ahmet Davutoglu said he contacted his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi. Salehi told Davutoglu that to issue statement on behalf of the Iranian state is in the competence of only president, foreign minister and supreme religious leader, other statements have nothing to do with the state policy.

Speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Larijani criticized the conference â€œFriends of Syriaâ€ held in Istanbul, called the participants of the summit â€œSyriaâ€™s enemiesâ€. He said the conference aimed to support Israel and blamed the summit participants for closing eyes to the dictatorship in Bahrain.