Turkey confirms talks over Iranian pilgrims

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Iranian FM Salehi reportedly demands Ankara take ‘serious action’ for 48 pilgrims. AP photo

A phone conversation between the Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers took place on Oct. 6, Turkish officials have confirmed without giving further information about its content.

According to Iranian Fars news agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi demanded Ankara take “serious action” to help set free the 48 Iranian pilgrims who had been abducted in Syria two months before in a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Turkey and Iran have cooperated before for the release of each other’s kidnapped citizens in Syria and elsewhere. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, Turkish officials don’t speak about the efforts to secure the release of the kidnapped people.

During the conversation, Salehi called for the Turkish government’s serious assistance in securing the release of the Iranian pilgrims, Fars reported. Also, Salehi pointed to the recent border skirmishes between the Syrian and Turkish border guards, and renewed Tehran’s condolences to the Turkish government for the deaths of the five Turkish citizens in Akçakale. Davutoğlu, for his part, assured Salehi of the Turkish government’s continued efforts for securing the release of the Iranian pilgrims, the report claimed.