Turkey Summons Iranian Envoy To Protest Iraq Dispute

Turkey has summoned Iran’s envoy to Ankara to demand support in the fight against “terrorism,” escalating a dispute over Turkey’s presence in Iraq.

The state news agency Anadolu reported that Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Farazmand on February 28.

Anadolu quoted Turkish officials as telling Farazmand that Ankara expected Iran to be on its side in the “fight against terrorism.”

Iran and Turkey are rivals in some parts of the Middle East and Central Asia.

But both have carried out operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.

Earlier in February, Turkey accused Kurdish militants of killing 12 Turks and an Iraqi who were being held hostage in northern Iraq,

The incident prompted Iranian envoy to Baghdad, Iraj Masjedi, to warn that Turkish forces should not “pose a threat or violate Iraqi soil.”

“We do not accept at all, be it Turkey or any other country, to intervene in Iraq militarily or advance or have a military presence in Iraq,” Masjedi said on February 28.

But Turkey’s Baghdad envoy, Fatih Yildiz, quickly responded, writing on Twitter that Iran’s ambassador was “the last person to lecture Turkey” about respecting Iraq’s borders.

Based on reporting by Anadolu and AFP