ANKARA
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuoglu said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was not at a level where he could appreciate Turkey's influence and contribution in the region.
Speaking to reporters in the Egyptian capital of Cairo where he is attending the foreign ministers' meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Davutoglu underlined that "the pain of an Iraqi brother or sister was the pain of Turkey and the happiness of an Iraqi brother or sister was the happiness of Turkey."
"No one can get between our Iraqi brothers and us. Turkey has never made differentiation between the Sunni, Shiites, Turkmens, Arabs or Kurds. Whenever there was an act of terror or a painful incident in Iraq, Turkey tried to be the first country to extend help. The people of Iraq are aware of this. Prime Minister Maliki should not make efforts to create an agenda to cover up his failure. We advise Maliki to know the value of Turkey's friendship. We do hope that Maliki will make statements based on good sense," Davutoglu said.
"Maliki should ask Turkey's influence and contribution to Palestine, the peoples going through a great democratic change in northern Africa, to Egypt, to the Gulf and to the Iraqi streets. Turkey's contributions to regional peace is obvious," Davutoglu also said.
Turkey welcomes development of Egypt-Iran relations
Davutoglu said Tuesday that the developing relations between Iran and Egypt was a positive step.
Regarding Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad's visit to Egypt, Davutoglu expressed hope that Iran would understand better the wind of change in North Africa.
Ahmadi-Nejad's visit is the first high-level one from Iran to Egypt after 1979.
We think high-level visits are beneficial to restoration of peace and permanent dialogue milieu in the region, said Davutoglu, adding that Iran and Egypt were neighbors of Turkey, and Turkey would only be pleased if relations between these two countries developed.
Davutoglu said that if Iran understood the mood of Tahrir Square, then it would understand the demands of Syrians in Hama, Homs and Aleppo.
Regarding Mali issue, Davutoglu said that Turkey, from the beginning, called for solution by political dialogue and within territorial integrity of Mali, adding that Turkey always supported UN and regional organizations to take action in such issues.
Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers meet in Cairo
Davutoglu and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met in Cairo on Tuesday.
The two foreign ministers met within the scope of a meeting of foreign ministers' commission of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Decisions which were made within the scope of OIC meetings were discussed in Davutoglu-Salehi meeting.
They also took up regional matters, especially Syria issue.
