Iranian FM’s visit to Turkey postponed

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

AFP photo

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s visit to Turkey has been postponed, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News on Aug. 11.

The visit was postponed due to a “change in program,” the official said, but declined to further elaborate which side requested the delay and on what grounds. The schedule for the visit has not yet been set, according to the official. 

Zarif was scheduled to visit Ankara on Aug. 10 as part of a regional trip including Lebanon and Pakistan after a nuclear agreement reached between Iran and Western powers. 

The postponement comes after a senior Iranian official harshly criticized Ankara over its Syria policy accusing superpowers of using the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other terror organizations as a tool. 

“In this regard, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which provoked Saddam Hussein’s regime, are typical examples. Then, the Saddam regime became trouble for these two countries. Consequently, Iraq invaded Kuwait and sent missiles at Saudi Arabia. Now Turkey is experiencing the same as radical groups it supported have now emerged as trouble for it,” Mehr News Agency quoted Mujtaba Amani, a former Iranian official in Cairo, as saying on Aug. 9.

The Iranian media’s coverage of Turkish leaders has upset pro-government in Turkey, as well as the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Anadolu recently covered a story with the headline of “Lies about Turkey in Iranian media,” which mentioned criticisms by Iranian media outlets targeting Turkey, particularly linked to the Revolutionary Guards.

Ankara conveyed unease to Tehran through various channels, but the Iranian officials “ignored these warnings,” the agency reported on Aug. 7.

Similar story was covered by daily Sabah on Aug. 10.