Turkey calls for common sense in Iraq: Spokesman

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Turkey called on all parties to act with common sense and avoid steps that will fuel tension, the presidential spokesman said on Jan. 3 amid the fresh U.S.-Iran row.

İbrahim Kalın’s remarks came in a statement following the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior commander of Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units, in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq.

Kalın argued that recent mistakes, sectarian attitudes and foreign interventions in the region were threatening global peace and stability.

He said Turkey was particularly concerned that its neighbor, Iraq, would become a zone of tension, instability and power struggles.

The U.S. airstrike killing Soleimani would trigger new tensions and conflicts in the region, he warned.

“Turkey once again calls on all parties to act with common sense and avoid steps that will further escalate tension,” Kalın stressed.

He added that Turkey will continue to make full use of diplomacy to guarantee regional and global peace.

The U.S. said it killed Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

The U.S. strike came amid heightened tensions after thousands of Iran-backed protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Dec. 31.

Separately, Ömer Çelik, the spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), also said that the U.S. killing of Soleimani will trigger a more dangerous instability in the region.

"The actions to fuel instability in Iraq are to the disadvantage of the whole region," Çelik said on Twitter, underlining that the security and stability of Iraq “are of crucial importance both for Turkey and the region.”

“The foreign interventions, assassinations, factional conflicts and sectarian fights aiming to turn Iraq into a satellite state expose our region and Iraq to greater instability,” Çelik said.