March 27, 2017 - 13:15 AMT
Iran warns Turkey against abusing humanitarian issues for politics

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi slammed recent remarks by Turkish PM and his deputy on migrants and described them as strange, Mehr News Agency reports.

“Unfortunately, the meddling, trouble-making and baseless remarks by Turkish officials about their neighboring countries continue, and they try to justify their interfering and expansionist policies through blaming others and repeating their fictitious claims,” said Ghasemi on Sunday, March 26 evening about the recent remarks of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul.

The spokesman also rejected the claims made by Turkish deputy prime minister that a wave of three million migrants may enter Turkey from Iran. He described the claims very strange and advised the Turkish officials to "learn lessons from Iranians who have given home to millions of foreign refuges for more than three decades and have never abused the humane and humanitarian affairs to reach political purposes plotted against any country. It’s been more than thirty years that Iran has been hosting millions of refugees from neighboring countries.”

He also advised the Turkish to respect the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the will of Syrian and Iraqi nations who have chosen their governments, in addition to not mixing humanitarian affairs in political struggles.

“Respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all neighboring countries are the best picks of The Islamic Republic of Iran for bolstering and expanding relations between nations and countries,” affirmed the Iranian official. “Constructive dialogue is the best method for enhancing and cementing ties with neighboring countries in opposition to accusing the neighbors.”