Alwaght- Turkey called for an end to violence and riot in neighboring Iran, emphasizing "external interventions" should be avoided.
Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, saying “Turkey is concerned about reports that demonstrations that started on Dec. 28 in Iran have spread, there are deaths and that public buildings have been damaged," Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry's statement portrayed Iran "a friend and brotherly country to Turkey, which attributes great importance for the preservation of social peace and stability".
“In this context, we believe the statement of President [Hassan] Rouhani [of Iran] that people have a right to peaceful protest but the law should not be violated and that public property should not be harmed should be taken into account, and violence and provocation should be avoided.
“We wish for peace in the country to be ensured, as soon as possible, and that common sense would prevail to prevent the escalation of the incidents, and that provocative rhetoric and external interventions would be avoided.”
On Monday, a Russian senator warned that external factors are involved in the protests, noting that Washington will seize every opportunity to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
RIA Novosti news agency cited the head of the upper house of the Russian parliament’s international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev as saying, “So, of course, the external factor in the Iranian protests is present, although not yet dominant. I believe the wave of protests will subside soon, no revolution will happen, but competition has taken place”.
“New year’s wave of protests in Iran, of course, in the first place is a symptom of certain internal political processes in the country. Socio-economic factors also influence the events, but they aren’t the worst in the region and in comparison with previous years for Iran," the Russian senator added.
Kosachev further warned that the US and Israeli regime are stepping up their cooperation to destabilize the Islamic Republic, referring to a recent deal secretly signed between the two on cooperation on countering Iran.
Some cities in Iran have been scenes of demonstrations in the past days after prices of several staples rose by up to 40 percent.
During the rallies, people called on the government to help control rising food prices and inflation, but some opportunists attempted to turn the situation ugly and materialize their vested interest at the cost of social security. According to reports, 16 people, including a security force, have been killed during unrests.
On Sunday, the US president one more time sided with the opportunists, tweeting, “Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!”
In response, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at his US counterpart for commenting on the protests, saying the man who already called the Iranian people terrorists, as well as certain Arab regimes working against Iran, have no right to sympathize with the nation.
Rouhani began his second term in office in August, with the country’s economic issues high on his agenda.
His administration has managed to reduce the inflation rate, but it still faces many economic challenges.
