Turkey: US assassination of Gen. Soleimani 'a serious risk to peace'
Turkey’s foreign minister says the United States’ assassination of Iranian commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani poses “a serious risk to peace in the region.”
“The killing of Soleimani is a serious risk for peace in the region,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara on Monday.
A US drone carried out an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday, assassinating General Soleimani, who was the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), as well as eight other people.
Iran has pledged a “harsh revenge” against America for the assassination.
“We will work with other countries to reduce tensions between the US and Iran,” Cavusoglu said.
He said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had held telephone conversations with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as well as his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi counterpart Barham Salih and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani about the assassination.
According to the report, Erdogan will also hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Turkish minister noted that Erdogan will also discuss the latest developments with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Turkey on Wednesday.
"Mr President and Putin will address these issues personally. We all have a common concern that Iraq should not turn into a conflict zone for other countries," he said.
'Soleimani assassination not to go unanswered'
Speaking in an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk on Sunday, Erdogan said he believed "killing the most senior commander of a country will not remain unanswered."
He noted that he was surprised by the assassination because it occurred just hours after a phone call with US President Donald Trump during which he “especially had suggested that tensions with Iran should not be heightened.”
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