Davutoglu warns of a regional cold war

On the eve of his visit to Tehran, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Anatolia news agency in an interview yesterday that the emergence of fresh sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites threatens to plunge the Mideast into a regional Cold War. "We are determined to avoid a regional Cold War. Regional sectarian tension would be suicide for the entire region," Davutoglu said. Concerning the allegations that Turkey is confronting the Tehran-Damascus-Baghdad alliance, Davutoglu said, "Such a thing is out of the question. There are some circles who wish to initiate a Cold War on the axis of Sunni-Shiite tension, but its affects would last for many decades. I will raise this issue during my visit to Tehran. We have contact with all parties in the region, not only with Shiites or Sunnis but also with Christians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, namely, members from various religions. That was the real reason why our prime minister visited Coptic Patriarch in Egypt. Turkey is strongly against all of these polarizations, be it the Iranian-Arab tension or the efforts aimed at creating certain axes. This is one of the messages that I will bring to Tehran." Davutoglu recalled that rooted and historic relations between Turkey and Iran dating back to many years had a tradition, in which the two countries try to understand each other's position and resolve the disagreements, if any. Davutoglu added that he would visit Russia and the US in one month following his visit to Tehran to hold meetings with EU and Gulf countries.