Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Iran that violations of Turkish airspace “cannot be justified” and says attacks on countries in the region help no one according to BBC.
In a phone call with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, he says Turkey is trying to open the door to diplomacy to help bring the war to an end.
In a cabinet meeting last night Erdogan said: “Despite our sincere warnings, extremely wrong and provocative steps continue to be taken that will jeopardise Turkey’s friendship.”
The comments come after Nato air defences shot down a second Iranian ballistic missile that had entered Turkish airspace on Monday.
Turkey has Nato’s second-largest army and shares a long border with Iran that has been stable for 500 years.
No other Nato country has the same depth of contact with what remains of the regime inside Iran. Erdogan is positioning himself, as he has done on Ukraine, Gaza and in several other theatres, as a mediator.