Turkey‘s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking at a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday, expressed Ankara’s firm rejection of threats of intervention by foreign powers against Iran in the context of the mass protests that have rocked the neighbouring country, leaving hundreds dead. “Tehran must solve its own internal problems by itself,” Fidan stressed.
“Our priority from the beginning has been regional stability and security. There are many problems in our region that we have inherited from the past and that have continued; one of them is the sanctions imposed on Iran for years, as you know, as well as certain political disagreements in the region. Now, as a neighbour and friend of Iran, we have repeatedly and sincerely shared our views very clearly. It is our border neighbour; we have a common border that has remained unchanged for centuries, and our two peoples are very similar, with intensive trade and social relations. Therefore, everything that happens in Iran concerns us closely, and we are following very closely the events that are taking place,” Fidan said, as reported by Turkish broadcaster TRTHaber.
“It is in Turkey’s interest that Iran resolves its problems with the main international players and avoids scenarios of instability that could spread throughout the region. Therefore, our priority is to avoid any situation that would lead to the use of force, but unfortunately, we have seen what has happened in recent months,” he said, referring to Israeli and US attacks against Iran. “We absolutely want problems to be solved through dialogue. I believe that the growing widespread instability in Iran far exceeds the resilience of the region. Therefore, we will continue our diplomatic efforts. Hopefully the US and Iran will resolve this issue between themselves, whether through mediators, other actors or direct talks. We are also following the issue closely,” Fidan added.
“Our diplomatic efforts with regard to Iran will continue: our priority is to avoid destabilisation“, insisted the head of Turkish diplomacy, who reiterated that “Iran must solve its problems by itself: we reject any intervention“, although at the same time he urged Tehran to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme as soon as possible and through diplomatic channels, in order to put an end to the “structural problems that are causing the economic difficulties”, in a clear reference to the sanctions against the Iranian regime.
“It is not clear that this is an ideological uprising against the Iranian regime“
“Iran has a large population and a dynamic society. It has a sophisticated society with a great desire to live and to participate in social life; when such a society is deprived of certain opportunities, these kinds of problems arise,” said Fidan, who warned, however, that it would be a mistake to confuse protests motivated by economic hardship among the population with a desire for regime change.
“What is being confused here is that the hardships that people in Iran are facing because of economic and other difficulties, may appear as an ideological uprising against the regime; in reality, this is not clear… We don’t want to see any intervention, although when you look at Trump’s policies, we have not seen so far that he prioritises sending ground troops,” Turkey’s foreign minister commented, in what was interpreted as a reference to the recent intervention in Venezuela to capture Maduro.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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