Parliament speaker Mustafa Şentop on Friday congratulated Iran as it marks the 43rd anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
"On the occasion of the National Day of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I sincerely congratulate the friendly and brotherly people of Iran on behalf of the Turkish nation and myself,” Şentop said in a letter to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
"I hope that our relations, which are shaped on a solid basis with our strong historical, cultural and human ties, will become stronger with the joint efforts of our parliaments and mutual contacts.”
The anniversary of Iran’s 1979 revolution is observed every year on the 22nd day of the Persian month of Bahman.
Bahman 22 (Feb. 11) marks the end of the 54-year rule of the country’s Pahlavi dynasty and the establishment of a theocratic form of government.
Thousands of people, riding cars and motorcycles, have taken to the streets in major cities across Iran to mark the 43rd anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
For the second straight year, the annual celebrations have been confined to motorcade rallies, with health authorities imposing fresh curbs on foot processions in the wake of a spike in coronavirus cases.
The motorcade rallies in Tehran began in the wee hours of Friday as cars and motorcycles from different parts of the city paraded toward Azadi Square, an important landmark in the Iranian capital.
The participants waved the tricolored flag of Iran from their car windows as patriotic songs filled the air. Similar processions also occurred in other major cities including Isfahan, Hamadan, Tabriz, Mashhad and Qom.
President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to deliver a traditional address to mark the occasion later in the day.
On Thursday, Raisi and Amir-Abdollahian hosted foreign diplomats stationed in Tehran in a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the revolution. In his remarks at the ceremony, Raisi said his administration seeks "strengthening of good neighborliness, building trust and dialogue with its neighbors," while accusing the incumbent U.S. administration of following the same path as the previous administration.
