People in Iran's Azerbaijan Gather in Front of Turkish Consulate to Protest at Erdogan’s Remarks

TEHRAN (Defapress) - A large number of Iranian people gathered in front of the Turkish consulate in the Northwestern city of Tabriz in the Northwestern province of East Azerbaijan, protesting at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks against Iran during a ceremony in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

News ID: 82752

Date: 13 December 2020 - 19:34

The protestors carried placards reading words to condemn Erdogan’s comments and blaming Israel for attempts to sow discord among the Muslim nations.

The Iranian people reminded Erdogan of 2016 coup against the Turkish president which ended in failure because of Iran’s help and assistance to Erdogan, calling on the Turkish officials to watch their words.

“Those who have a greedy eyes on the territories this side of Aras river (the Iranian lands) had better study history and see that Azarbaijan, specially the people of Tabriz, have always pioneered in defending the Islamic Iran,” the protesters said in a statement.

They reminded Erdogan of the 2016 coup after he spoke of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow in coordination with the Americans and the Israelis, and said, “If Iran had not helped you at the night of the coup, you would have had a fate similar to that of former Egyptian President Muhammed Mursi.”

The Turkish president traveled to Baku on Thursday to attend a military parade of Azerbaijani forces on the occasion of the liberation of the Armenian-occupied territories.

At the ceremony, which was also attended by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Erdogan read out poems including separatist sentiments about the Aras River which runs along the Iran-Azerbaijan border.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized Erdogan’s recitation of a piece of poetry that contained nationalist sentiments, stressing that no one can talk about Iran's “beloved” Azerbaijan.

Zarif on his Twitter account, blasted Erdogan’s provocative poems in Baku on Thursday, warning him that such remarks would undermine the sovereignty of Azerbaijan Republic.

Also, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Turkish Ambassador to Tehran Derya Örs over the remarks made by Erdogan during his visit to the Azerbaijan Republic.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that Derya Örs has been summoned after Erdogan’s “meddlesome and unacceptable” remarks made during his trip to Baku.

“Tehran has expressed its ‘strong protest’ against such remarks, urging the Turkish government to offer explanations as soon as possible,” Khatibzadeh said.

“The era of claiming lands and warmongering empires has long ended,” an official at Iran’s Foreign Ministry said during the meeting with the Turkish diplomat.

Meantime, Chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mojtaba Zonnouri blasted Erdogan for remarks during his visit to the Azerbaijan Republic, calling on him to apologize to Iran.

“If Erdogan had not failed in literature, geography and history, he would have realized that the poem (he recited during the ceremony in the Azerbaijan Republic) had been said to mourn the separation of Azerbaijan from its homeland (Iran),” Zonnouri wrote on his twitter page on Saturday.

He asked Erdogan to take lesson from Saddam’s fate and rapidly apologize to the united and zealous Iranian nation.