“Turkey’s political participation in such a meeting that targets one country is out of question,” a senior Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News on Feb. 12.
Turkey’s position with regard to this summit is clear. It sees this meeting as against Iran and therefore has decided not to take part in it.
“We are therefore not dispatching any representative to this meeting. Our embassy in Warsaw will follow it.”
This decision is based on Turkey’s principles, the official explained, stressing that its non-participation should be interpreted as the Turkish government’s distance to the US-led initiative.
“In a statement in Cairo during a trip to Egypt, US Secretary of State Pompeo had unearthed the real motive of this initiative. In line with its principles, Turkey has always been against such moves,” said the official.
Russia, Lebanon, Palestine and Qatar also are not attending the Warsaw meeting. The European Union countries which have been critical to Washington’s anti-Iran policies will also be displaying low-level participation.
MNA/PR