IRAN PROTESTED TO THE MASS ARREST OF IRANIANS IN TURKEY
By Nina Kamran, IPS Diplomatic Correspondent
ANKARA 23RD May (IPS) As Turkish authorities admitted Monday the arrest of more than 300 Iranians in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, analysts said the aim of the tension created by Ankara with Iran is to strengthen the hands of President Mohammad Khatami in his struggle against the hard liners.
Following reports that Turkish Police and security forces had arrested hundreds of Iranians during night raids in their houses or hotels, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish Ambassador Mr. Turan Morali and presented him with "the strongest protest" over the "illegal and unacceptable" attitude of the Turkish authorities.
Speaking to reporters, the senior spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hamid Reza Asefi strongly condemned the arrests and accused the Turkish officials of having "ignored the most basic norms of international law".
"Such irresponsible moves by certain Turkish officials is unacceptable to the Islamic Republic of Iran", Mr. Asefi warned, describing the mass arrest of Iranian living in Turkey as "out of context" in diplomatic norms and international practices as well as an "affront" to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Receiving the Turkish ambassador, Mr. Mohammad Sharif Mahdavi, a General Director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry presented him Iran's protest against what he termed as Turkish "inhuman, unacceptable, illegal" way of treating Iranian nationals.
According to the Iranian official news agency IRNA, the Turkish Police and security services, in large scale co-ordinated and concerted operations attacked "savagely" the houses of many Iranians in Istanbul, proceeding to the arrest or more than 300 of them.
In Ankara and Izmir, 60 Iranians were detained on charges of illegal residence permits or faked legal papers, IRNA added.
But latter, Mr. Asefi reported that after Iranian protest, the Turkish authorities had freed almost all the Iranian prisoners except for a handful of them.
Analysing the mounting crisis between Tehran and Ankara, Mr. Reza Shoja'i, an Iranian lawyer based in Istanbul said Turkey genuinely fears the Islamic contagion from Iran and is determined to reinforce the hands of President Khatami it considers as moderate in order to stop the export of Iranian Islamic revolution to Turkey.
He said Turkey follows very closely the situation in Iran, particularly the fight between the hard liners and the moderates in the leadership. "By crushing the (Turkish) Hezbollah and by accusing the Islamic Republic of being behind assassination of prominent Turkish intellectuals and journalists, Turkish strategists hope they can boost the position of Mr. Khatami who, in their view, is opposed to the export of the revolution", Mr. Shoja'i commented during a telephone interview with Iran Press Service.
According to the English language Turkish Daily News (TDN), in a letter sent to his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi, the Turkish Foreign Minister Isma'il Cem had exposed in detail the security forces' recent operations against radical Islamist groups and confessions of an Iranian connection.
Cem's letter was delivered to the Iranians by Mr. Morali who, according to the Turkish version, had called on the Iranian Foreign Ministry to brief them about the latest developments in Turkey, including the crack down on Islamist organisations.
It is reported that in his letter Cem conveyed the Turkish concerns in a straightforward way, urging the Iranian authorities to take the necessary measures to stop anti-Turkish activities originating in Iranian territory. Cem's letter aims to call the Iranian authorities to shoulder their responsibilities and make them resolve the dispute themselves as the problem does not stem from the Turkish side, the paper said. ENDS IRAN TURKEY 23500