Turkey summons ambassador over Tunisian FM’s comments

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

Ankara summoned Tunisia’s ambassador to Ankara Mohamed Salah Tekayaon (R) April 3 over remarks by the country’s foreign minister Taieb Baccouche. DHA Photo

Ankara summoned Tunisia’s ambassador to Ankara on April 3 over remarks by the country’s foreign minister, who accused Turkey of facilitating the transit of jihadists bound for neighboring Syria and Iraq.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry asked for an explanation of the remarks by Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche, a Turkish diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News.

“Tunisia by no means accused Turkey,” Tunisian Ambassador Mohamed Salah Tekaya told Turkish Foreign Ministry officials, according to the diplomat.

On the contrary, the ambassador expressed his country’s appreciation for Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş’s visit to Tunisia to participate in a march following the recent terrorist attack on Tunis’ Bardo Museum, the ambassador told Turkish foreign ministry officials. 

“We have asked our ambassador in Turkey to draw the attention of the Turkish authorities to the fact that we do not want a Muslim nation such as Turkey to help directly or indirectly terrorism in Libya by facilitating the movements of terrorists,” Baccouche reportedly said April 2.  
                
He said Turkey was a “passage point” for fighters who go to Syria or for those who travel to Libya and then infiltrate the porous border into Tunisia.