Türkiye, Iran support Syria's territorial integrity, unity
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian shake hands in Ankara, Jan. 17, 2023. (AA Photo)


Türkiye and Iran support Syria's territorial integrity and political unity, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in Ankara on Tuesday.

The two foreign ministers touched upon the recent contacts between the two neighbors, as Çavuşoğlu said they are planning a meeting at the foreign ministry level.

Although no date or place has been decided yet, Türkiye, Syria and Russia hope to organize a meeting between their foreign ministers this month.

Powerful NATO member Türkiye has played a major part in the conflict, backing Bashar Assad's opponents and sending troops into the north. Moscow is Assad's main ally and Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged reconciliation with Ankara.

For his part, Amirabdollahian said Iran is very pleased by the thaw in Ankara's ties with Syria.

Meanwhile, Çavuşoğlu criticized Sweden's failure to take action against Erdoğan effigy incident by PKK/YPG terrorists, calling it "absurd."

"This is terrorist propaganda," he said, adding that if Sweden thinks it is wasting Türkiye's time through wordplays, they should know that they're deceiving themselves.

He continued by saying that the terrorist propaganda by the YPG/PKK included hate speech and racism, and that Türkiye would proceed by taking into consideration the trilateral memorandum signed with Sweden and Finland.

Sweden will not be formally investigating last week's demonstration in Stockholm in which the supporters of the PKK terrorist group hung a life-sized mannequin of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on a lamppost.

Türkiye has a say in the ratification of the membership bid of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance but only on Ankara’s conditions. Erdoğan said last week that the extradition of terrorists is a must for Sweden if it wants the right to join NATO.

"Türkiye has told Sweden its Parliament cannot ratify Sweden’s NATO membership if they do not extradite the terrorists they have," Erdoğan said, referring to Sweden and Finland’s commitment last June as part of an agreement to take a firmer stance against terrorism to join the alliance. "First of all, they need to extradite nearly 130 terrorists for their bids to pass our Parliament, (but) unfortunately, they are yet to do this," Erdoğan explained as he addressed a youth meeting in the southwestern Muğla province.