ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Turkish government on Monday warned that a growing diplomatic row between Iran and Saudi Arabia would harm both countries and called on them to defuse tensions. “Both countries should leave these tensions behind as soon as possible,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters. “The region cannot carry such tension,” the Hurriyet Daily News quoted him as saying. “Saudi Arabia and Iran are two major countries of the Muslim world, and we have ties with both of them,” he added. Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, which have been long at odds over regional rivalry and leadership of the Muslim world, opened a new chapter in their sour relations after the Arab kingdom severed ties with Tehran. That followed an attack by angry Iranian demonstrators on Saudi missions in Iran on Sunday, they day after the kingdom executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr. He had allegedly led mass protests against Saudi authorities in the kingdom’s eastern Qatif province, leading to his arrest in July 2012. Kurtulmas said that Turkey is “against all kinds of political death sentences.” He added that “enmity between Saudi Arabia and Iran will harm both countries, will harm the region.” Meanwhile, the official Anadolu Agency reported that Turkey’s top Islamic figure, Mehmet Gormez, who heads the Religious Affairs Directorate, had arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a two day visit. The reason for the visit was not reported. "Mehmet Gormez met with Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, as well as members of the country’s Islamic religious law committee," the agency said. The row has dragged other countries into the fray, with Saudi allies Bahrain and Sudan announcing Monday they had severed ties with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates downgrading relations by calling home some of its diplomats.
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