Ankara--President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday insisted he was still planning to visit Iran next week, despite a war-of-words with the Islamic republic triggered by the Yemen crisis and his comments Tehran was seeking domination of the region.
Majority Sunni Muslim Turkey has said it supports the Saudi-led operation against Iran-allied Huthi Shiite rebels in Yemen to restore order in the country.
Meanwhile Iran announced Monday it had "invited" the Turkish envoy to the foreign ministry for an explanation after Erdogan said last week that Tehran's bid for domination of the region could no longer be tolerated.
"We are keeping the programme of our visit (to Iran) but we are watching developments in Yemen," Erdogan told reporters at Istanbul airport before heading on a visit to Slovenia, Slovakia and Romania.
"The developments in Yemen are for us very, very important," he said.
As a Sunni power, Turkey and the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), has long had complicated ties with the Shiite theocratic leadership in Tehran.
Turkey is anxiously watching the growth of Iran's influence in Iraq, its support for Shiite group Hezbollah in Lebanon and backing of the Syrian regime.
"Turkey's initial aim of a relatively healthy working relationship with Iran is increasingly unattainable," said Faysal Itani of US-based think tank Atlantic Council.
"Judging from Erdogan's statements on Iranian regional hegemony, there is no longer any way to disguise the two countries' geopolitical differences," he told AFP.
After a joint Turkish-Brazilian bid in 2010 to settle the Iranian nuclear crisis, Ankara also found itself sidelined as Washington talked directly to Tehran.
Despite their disagreements however, both countries have kept dialogue channels open and Turkey is heavily dependent on imported energy from Iran.
AFP
