ANKARA, February 3. /TASS/. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused a number of Western countries which shut down their consulates in Turkey over security threats of shirking their obligations as allies.
"Had they been our allies, they would have warned us about looming threats. If there is a terrorist threat, shouldn’t they inform us? We were asking our Interior Ministry and intelligence. There was no specific exchange of information. We think that these closings were premeditated," he emphasized at a press conference in Istanbul on Friday aired on his Twitter page.
According to the Turkish top diplomat, Ankara is aware that "some countries are telling others to join in." "In all respects these statements and closings are deliberate," he added.
Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the heads of diplomatic missions, including of those countries that suspended the operations of their consulates general (Belgium, the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the US, France, Switzerland and Sweden) stressing that the security of all diplomatic institutions in Turkey was ensured on the basis of international agreements. The ambassadors were also informed of the necessity to cooperate and counteract terrorism. The Turkish diplomatic agency pointed out that the approach of Western states serves the interests of terrorist organizations.
The envoys were summoned to the Foreign Ministry following Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu's remarks that a number of Western states unleashed a "psychological war" against his country by shutting down diplomatic missions under the pretext of a terror threat but without presenting any evidence.