Iran rejected claims that Turkey summoned its ambassador in Ankara to protest against the criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Iranian media. “The news of the summon is a lie,” Mehr News Agency quoted an informed source at the Foreign Ministry as saying on Friday. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said earlier Alireza Bigdeli was summoned over reports linking the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia to last week’s visit to Riyadh by Erdogan. The Iranian source denied the allegation. “The Iranian ambassador, on his own request and in order to outline Iran’s positions and the current developments in this regard, had asked the Turkish Foreign Ministry for a meeting,” the source said. “The purpose of this short news piece was to imply that Turkey had joined Saudi allies in the diplomatic protest against Iran.” Bigdeli himself has denied having been summoned. IRNA on Friday quoted Bigdeli as saying on his Facebook page that his visit to the Turkish ministry had been planned in advance.
