Turkey ants an explanation from Iran

Touching upon the discussions on the venue for nuclear talks between Iran and the West, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday that even if such talks were held outside Istanbul, Turkey was ready to make contributions. Following the visit paid by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Iran last week, tension between Ankara and Tehran has escalated. Ankara was disturbed by Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani's critical remarks accusing Turkey of being "pawn of imperialists" for its Syria policies and helping Israel by hosting "Friends of Syria" meeting in Istanbul. Iran's Ambassador to Ankara Bahman Hosseinpour was summoned yesterday to the Turkish Foreign Ministry to explain Iranian officials' criticism about Ankara. Afterwards, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Halit Cevik summoned Hosseinpour to convey Ankara's disturbance on the issue and sent a diplomatic note. During a joint press appearance with his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders, Davutoglu touched on Larijani's remarks, saying that Turkey is currently investigating the remarks in details and phoned his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi to discuss the matter. Davutoglu said he told Salehi that these remarks are not in line with the respect Iranians paid to Erdogan and his delegation during their last week visit to Tehran, adding that only remarks made by an Iranian foreign minister, president and supreme leader are binding. "Turkey's rejection of the fourth round of sanctions on Iran for its suspected nuclear program in 2010 in the UN Security Council, its public support for innocent people under Israel's brutality and its position with respect to Syria are independent decisions Turkey have made," Davutoglu added.