Iran General NewsIran's Salehi to visit Turkey over abducted pilgrims

Iran’s Salehi to visit Turkey over abducted pilgrims

-

AFP: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will pay a snap visit to Turkey late Tuesday for talks on the Syrian crisis and 48 Iranians kidnapped in Syria, officials and the media said.
ANKARA (AFP)— Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will pay a snap visit to Turkey late Tuesday for talks on the Syrian crisis and 48 Iranians kidnapped in Syria, officials and the media said.

The Iranian foreign minister wanted to visit Turkey “at his own request,” which was conveyed through diplomatic channels late Monday, a Turkish diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Salehi will have talks with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, with the Syria conflict topping the agenda, he added.

“Considering that the Free Syrian Army — which claims to have abducted the Iranian pilgrims — is backed by Turkey, the visit by the foreign minister aims to warn and remind the Ankara government of its responsbilities in this matter,” the Iranian foreign ministry said as cited by the official news agency IRNA.

The Iranians were kidnapped on Saturday by unidentified “armed terrorist groups” as they were travelling in a bus to the airport in Damascus, according to the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital and the Syrian state news agency SANA.

It was the single biggest abduction of Iranians since the start of the Syrian uprising in March last year.

Salehi telephoned his Turkish and Qatari counterparts, Davutoglu and Hamad bin Jasim bin Jabir Al Thani, late Saturday to request their assistance.

And Davutoglu responded by promising “to study the issue and to carry out efforts as in previous cases,” the Iranian media reported.

Turkey and Iran are at the opposite ends of the Syrian crisis. Ankara has been at the forefront of the international criticism against the Damascus regime’s deadly response to the popular uprising, while Tehran is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s few allies.

In addition to taking in more than 45,000 Syrian refugees in several camps along its southern border provinces, Turkey is also providing sanctuary to members of the rebel forces made up of army defectors.

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

U.S. using financial clout to squeeze Iran

USA TODAY: In private talks with foreign bankers, U.S....

Stuxnet may be part of Iran atom woes – ex-IAEA aide

Reuters: Iran has been experiencing years of problems with...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you