More Join Calls To Iran Gov't To Postpone Erdoğan Visit

Another top Iranian official has joined prominent members of Iran's political scene in calls to the government to postpone President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's increasingly controversial planned visit to Iran, hours after the country's foreign ministry issued a diplomatic note to Turkey calling for a clarification of Erdoğan's recent critical rhetoric.

Mohammed Mehdi Zahedi, the head of Iran's parliamentary investigation commission, said Erdoğan's visit to Tehran scheduled for April 7 should be postponed after the Turkish president publicly criticized Iran and voiced support for the Saudi-led operation to uproot a Shia militia rebellion in Yemen reportedly backed by Iran.

Speaking to the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA), the official news agency of the Iranian Parliament, Zahedi said, “Erdoğan must first take a step back from his current attitude towards Iran and then come to Tehran.” The Turkish media has also claimed that if no step is taken to postpone Erdoğan's visit to Tehran, the issue may be discussed in Parliament.

Zahedi's comments came as news broke in Turkey on Monday that Turkey's chargé d'affaires, Barış Saygın, was summoned to Iran's foreign ministry and handed a diplomatic note in which he asked to clarify Erdoğan's recent remarks, after which Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Merziye Afham called Erdoğan's words “against precedent and inappropriate.”

According to Turkish news agencies Afham stressed that Iran's strategic approach to the region and the relationships it has with its neighbors is based on mutual respect.

Erdoğan's proposed visit to Iran has been the cause of much speculation, as top Iranian figures asked for Erdoğan's visit to be reviewed or postponed after the Turkish head of state said during a press conference recently: “Iran is trying to dominate the region. Can this be allowed? This has begun annoying us, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. This is really not tolerable and Iran has to see this.”

Adding that the conflict in Yemen has evolved into a sectarian fight and urging Iran to withdraw, Erdoğan said: "Iran has to change its view. It has to withdraw any forces, whatever it has in Yemen as well as [in] Syria and Iraq, and respect their territorial integrity.”

This aggressive stance towards Iran from Erdoğan comes as a surprise to many, as during his visit to Tehran in 2014, which was aimed at strengthening bilateral relations, particularly trade, and facilitating Erdoğan's first meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rohani, then-Prime Minister Erdoğan had said that Iran was like his “second home.”

Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said recently that Erdoğan's planned visit to Iran, which is scheduled to take place in April, will not be postponed. Underlining that Erdoğan's visit holds more importance now than ever, the presidential aide rejected any claims that the visit will be put off.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan said on Sunday that Erdoğan's visit to Iran will not be rescheduled, saying, “As far as we know, there has been no alteration to Erdoğan's visit,” after several high-ranking figures in Iran including an Islamic cleric voiced concerns over Erdoğan's visit, even asking for the visit to be postponed.

Mansour Haghighatpour, the deputy chair of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, spoke to the Iranian-based Tasnim news agency, saying, “Erdoğan's proposed visit to Iran will have no effect after his rhetoric against Iran, so it must be postponed this time around.”

Ayatollah Hasan Ameli, who holds a high-ranking title given to Twelver Shia clerics in Iran, said Erdoğan's visit should “come under review.”

Ameli told the Iran-based FARS news agency that the "Saudi regime, together with America, the UN, the UN Security Council and the mischief-making servants of the palace" had received permission to attack Yemen and meddle in its internal affairs from Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi clerics.

Haghighatpour, who is also a deputy in the Iranian parliament, demanded that Erdoğan take back his words and be more careful with his actions, stating, “Erdoğan's allegations that Iran is meddling with Yemen's internal affairs are empty and hypocritical because he himself is being accused of providing aid to terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.”

Violence has spread across Yemen since last year, with the Houthi militia seizing Sanaa and sidelining US ally President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It has made Yemen a front in Saudi Arabia's region-wide rivalry with Shia Iran.

Iran demanded an immediate halt to the Saudi-led military operations in Yemen on Thursday and said it would take all necessary efforts to control the crisis there, Iranian news agencies reported. The Students News Agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying, “The Saudi-led air strikes should stop immediately and [they are] against Yemen's sovereignty.” (Cihan/Today's Zaman)