Turkey has acted responsibility dealing with the row between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a rift in which multiple aspects of regional rivalry can be seen, experts said on Friday during a panel organized by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA).

Speaking on a panel organized to discuss rising tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, Abdullah Yegin, an expert on Iran at SETA, indicated that Ankara views the Syrian crisis as the primary issue through which to regard the tensions, saying, "…we see that it [Turkey] wants to act with good sense. In Saudi Arabia's military operations to Yemen, support was given in terms of discourse but it has not gotten involved much in the issue."

Yegin further said that if things change in Egypt while Saudi Arabia also follows a policy parallel to Turkey's position, then the country's stance will also change.

On Jan. 5, after attacks on Saudi Arabia's embassies in the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the attacks were "unacceptable," adding a call for an end to the use of threatening discourse and a return to diplomacy, urging mutual caution.

Ömer Behram Özdemir, from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Sakarya University, stated that all the groups Turkey supports in Syria are moderate, and noted that Iran wants to delegitimize the opposition groups. Özdemir said, "Iran has made efforts to tarnish all the opposition groups' reputation and establish Assad as the sole authority. For this reason, it wants to affiliate those other groups with DAESH and Al Qaeda. However, its biggest success in this issue was the accomplishment of Russia's intervention. Russia's and Iran's military meddling in Syria shows how the Assad regime is weakened."

Regarding the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, panel moderator Kemal İnat from SETA's European Studies, pointed to the need for "a mediator country that is accepted by all sides in the region."