Erdoğan says Saudi executions are a domestic issue

Jordan, Djibouti, and Turkey expressed pro-Saudi positions on Wednesday after attacks on its missions in Iran that followed the execution of a renowned Shia leader in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.


Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the execution of 47 men for terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia was "a domestic issue". One of those put to death was Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr - a move that stirred sectarian anger across the region.

"Forty-six of those who were executed are Sunni and they are executed because they are affiliated with al-Qaeda. One of them was a Shia religious leader. This decision was previously taken and Saudi Arabia implemented it. This is their decision," Erdogan said in a speech in the capital Ankara.

The president also said those who remained silent about the deaths of people in Syria's civil war were causing an uproar over the execution of one person in Saudi Arabia, apparently referring to Iran though he did not name names.

"You are giving your support [to the Syrian regime] either implicitly or openly. You are giving financial and weapons support to the murderer [President Bashar] Assad," Erdogan said. "The Saudi Arabian embassy [in Iran] was hit with rocket launchers. Its embassy in Iraq was also vandalised. This is not acceptable in terms of international relations."

Meanwhile, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani asked the country's judiciary on Wednesday to urgently prosecute the people who attacked the Saudi missions.

"By punishing the attackers and those who orchestrated this obvious offence, we should put an end once and forever to such damage and insults to Iran's dignity and national security," Rouhani was quoted as saying in a letter published on the state news agency IRNA.

Djibouti cut diplomatic relations with Iran on Wednesday in response to the storming of the Saudi embassy. The tiny Horn of Africa nation joins Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan in entirely severing relations with Shia Muslim Iran...
 aljazeera.com
6/1/16
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• A number of nations allied to Saudi Arabia have joined diplomatic action against Iran, amid a row over the Saudi execution of a Shia Muslim cleric...

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