AFP, Ankara, 5 Feb 2012 – Turkey’s deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc criticised Iran on Sunday for the country’s silence over Syria’s violent crackdown on protests.
‘I am addressing the Islamic Republic of Islam: I do not know if you are worthy of being called Islamic,’ Arinc said, according to the Anatolia news agency.
‘Have you said a single thing about what is happening in Syria?’
Arinc was speaking at a meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party in Bursa, in Turkey’s northwest.
Iran is Syria’s main ally in the region and detractors have accused Tehran of helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s violent suppression of protests that have swept the country since March 2011.
About 6,000 people are thought to have been killed in the clampdown.
Arinc condemned as a ‘massacre’ Friday’s killings in Homs, a centre of protest were more than 200 people were killed. He also called on other Arab nations to speak out against the killings.
‘Did Lebanon offer a word of compassion for our slain Muslim brothers?’ he said. ‘No. Only Turkey raised its voice.’
Turkey, once a close ally of neighboring Syria, has been at the forefront of international criticism against the Damascus regime and has also become a haven for many Syrian opposition activists.