Iranian MPs Urge Turkey to Revise Regional Policies

EghtesadOnline: Several lawmakers said the Turkish ruling elite should correct their regional policies to prevent future coups and terrorist attacks in the country.

News ID: ۷۶۸۲۷۹

18 July 2016

They were referring to a coup attempt in Turkey, which started on Friday night and left at least 265 killed before it was thwarted.
Seyyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesman for Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told ICANA on Saturday that the Iranian Parliament condemns any illegal political attempt in neighboring Turkey, with which Iran has wide-ranging relations.
"The replacement of governments in any country should only happen through legal ways. Although the coup is condemned, we advise Turkish officials to learn a lesson and understand that they are paying for their mistakes," he said, pointing to Turkey's support for militant groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey is one of the main backers of militants fighting against the Syrian government and insists that Assad must leave office, while Iran is a close ally of the Syrian president and says only the Syrian people should decide about their leaders.
Turkey has suffered numerous bombings and shootings this year, including an attack two weeks ago on Ataturk airport that killed more than 40 people and was blamed on the IS militant group, as well as those staged by Kurdish separatist forces.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, another member of the parliamentary panel, told ICANA that the Turkish government's "ambitious policies" have endangered security in the country preparing the ground for the military coup, Financial Tribune reports.
"Foreign ambitions of Turkish leaders distanced them from their regional allies and placed them and the region's reactionary regimes in the same front. This approach turned Turkey into a bridge for takfiri terrorists and has led to negative consequences for Ankara," he said.
A takfiri regards followers of some Islamic sects who do not follow their extreme interpretation of Islam as apostates punishable by death. They are a major section of the forces fighting the government in the five-year-old crisis in Syria.
"Although the coup attempt has failed, there is potential for other coups in the country," he said, adding that the Turkish government should modify its problematic policies or wait for new waves of instability to appear.
Another parliamentarian, Behrouz Nemati, warned that the coup should be a wakeup call to Turkish leaders and even rulers of some regional countries that "believe they should have absolute power".
After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers.
Turkish authorities rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected military plotters on Saturday and vowed to cleanse the army. They have also ordered the detention of thousands of judges after thwarting the putsch.