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Iranian Foreign Minister Visits Turkey For Syria Talks |
8 August 2012Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is traveling to Turkey for previously unscheduled talks that are expected to focus on the conflict in Syria and the abduction of dozens of Iranians there.
The Iranian Embassy said Salehi will meet Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara on August 7.
Syrian rebels who are fighting against President Bashar al-Assad's regime abducted 48 Iranians outside Damascus on August 4.
Iranian authorities say those abducted were pilgrims visiting a Shi'ite shrine but the rebels said they were members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Syria on a "reconnaissance mission."
A Syrian rebel spokesman said on August 6 that three of the Iranians had been killed in a government air strike.
Salehi has asked his Turkish and Qatari counterparts to help secure the release of the captives.
Iran is a close Syria ally, while Turkey has been one of the strongest critics of Syrian President Assad's response to the 17-month uprising against his rule.
Iran's official media said the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran late on August 6 over the kidnapping of the Iranians in Syria.
Switzerland represents the diplomatic interests of the United States in Iran as the two countries have no diplomatic relations.
The Iranian foreign ministry told the Swiss envoy that because of U.S. support for the Syrian rebels, Iran would hold the United States responsible for the lives of the kidnapped Iranians.
On August 7, Assad met with the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, who flew to Damascus after ending a visit to Beirut.
Following the talks, Jalili told an Iranian TV channel that Iran held governments providing aid to Syrian rebels responsible for the abduction of the Iranian nationals in Syria.
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8 August 2012
RFE/RL
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