Iran, Turkey FM discuss coup attempt in 3 calls

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has spoken three times on the telephone with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu about an attempted military coup in Turkey.

After the coup attempt on Friday night, Zarif and Cavusoglu exchanged views on the latest developments in three separate phone calls.

The Turkish foreign minister briefed his Iranian counterpart on the situation in Turkey.

The coup attempt, launched late on Friday, plunged Turkey into hours of chaos unseen in decades during which soldiers and tanks took to the streets and multiple explosions rang out throughout the night in Ankara and Istanbul.

It all began when a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had fully seized control of the country and that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim were no more in charge.

A group calling itself the “Council for Peace in the Homeland” declared martial law and a curfew in the statement.

The Turkish president ended uncertainty over his whereabouts, flying into Istanbul airport in the early hours on Saturday after news emerged that the most serious challenge to his 13 years of rule had been thwarted.

Erdogan and Yildirim appeared on television soon after the coup was launched, declaring an early end to the putsch.

The Turkish premier told reporters that 161 people were killed in the coup attempt against the government. He said 2,839 soldiers were now detained on suspicion of involvement in the putsch and added that the toll did not include the assailants.

Following the coup, Zarif expressed his “deep concern” about the ongoing coup attempt in neighboring Turkey, saying the region is no place for putsches.

“Deeply concerned about the crisis in Turkey. Stability, democracy & safety of Turkish people are paramount. Unity & prudence are imperative,” the Iranian minister wrote on his official Twitter page on Friday night.

Hours later, Zarif tweeted, “Turkish people’s brave defense of democracy & their elected government proves that coups have no place in our region and are doomed to fail.”

Iranians in Turkey safe: Ambassador

Meanwhile, Iran’s Ambassador to Ankara Mohammad Ebrahim Taherianfard said no Iranian national has been injured or killed in the attempted coup in Turkey.

“No harm has been caused to Iranian citizens in Turkey during the recent developments,” Taherianfard told IRNA on Saturday.

He, however, called on Turkey-based Iranians to stay indoors and said, “A number of [Iranian] nationals are at airports and some are in hotels and will return to the country after the situation calms down and operations resume at the airports.”

He noted that Iran’s embassy in Ankara has urged Iranians to avoid making land trips to Turkey.

In a statement on Friday night, Iran’s embassy in Ankara called on Turkey-based Iranians and those who have traveled to the country to stay indoors, avoid participating in any gathering and pay attention to warnings by Turkish security officials.

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