ANKARA, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Turkey said on Monday that any foreign intervention in neighbouring Iran would lead to greater crises in the country and the region, and it called for U.S. and Iranian negotiations to resolve existing problems.
Iran is facing its biggest demonstrations since 2022 and U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to get involved if force is used against protesters.
NATO member Turkey does not wish to see chaos in Iran despite “certain problems within Iranian society and government”, Omer Celik, spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling AK Party, said.
“As Iranian President (Masoud) Pezeshkian has stated, these problems must be resolved through the internal dynamics of Iranian society and the national will of Iran,” Celik told a press conference after a meeting of the ruling party.
“We believe that foreign intervention will lead to even worse consequences, and that intervention provoked by Israel in particular will lead to even greater crises.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel was closely monitoring the protests in Iran, adding: “We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny.”
Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan have close personal ties.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said the protests, which evolved from complaints over dire economic hardships to defiant calls for the fall of the deeply entrenched clerical establishment, send a very strong message to Tehran.
“These demonstrations, stemming from genuine reasons and structural problems, are also being manipulated from abroad by Iran’s rivals,” Fidan told Turkish state broadcaster TRT on Friday.
“What we’re trying to do… is to support an agreement with Iran that benefits both sides, primarily the Americans, because the stability of the region depends on it.”
U.S.-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 544 people and the arrests of 10,681 people since the protests began on December 28.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the tallies.
(Reporting by Huseyin HayatseverEditing by Gareth Jones)
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