ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates urged Iran and Turkey on Monday to end what it called their “colonial” actions in Syria, signaling unease about diminishing Gulf Arab influence in the war.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan urged “the exit of those parties trying to reduce the sovereignty of the Syrian state, and I speak here frankly and clearly about Iran and Turkey.”
He was speaking at a news conference with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, whose country helps the regime of Bashar Assad militarily.
“If Iran and Turkey continue the same historical, colonial and competitive behavior and perspectives between them in Arab affairs, we will continue in this situation not just in Syria today but tomorrow in some other country,” Sheikh Abdullah said.
The six-year-old war in Syria has dragged in regional and international players who have sought to advance their interests there: Iran has sent troops and military support to shore up Assad’s rule as he has battled mostly Sunni Muslim opposition groups, some backed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states.
The Syrian army and its allies have regained lost territory with the help of Russian air strikes since 2015. At the same time, Daesh (Islamic State) is being pushed back from strongholds in eastern Syria by the Syrian army and a rival offensive by Kurdish and Arab rebels backed by the United States.
Fearing expanded Kurdish influence along its border with Syria, US ally Turkey has grown increasingly uneasy about the rebels’ armed thrust.
Turkey and Iran have discussed possible joint military action against Kurdish militant groups, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
Lavrov and Sheikh Abdullah said they agreed on a need for a negotiated end to the war. Russia is helping shepherd talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which has already produced “de-escalation” zones to reduce combat in three parts of Syria.
Lavrov said Russia hoped that efforts to unify the positions of Syria’s disparate opposition would aid the peace process.
“There were some deep disagreements in the past which led to the failure of some meetings, but we will continue encouraging the participation of all the platforms,” he said through a translator.
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UAE criticizes ‘colonial’ role of Iran and Turkey in Syria
UAE criticizes ‘colonial’ role of Iran and Turkey in Syria
‘Enough is enough. The game is over,’ Iran ex-PM tells leadership
- Mir Hossein Mousavi: ‘Put down your gun and step down from power so that the nation itself can lead this land to freedom and prosperity’
- Mousavi claimed to have won the 2009 presidential elections against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the hard-liner’s victory was rigged
PARIS: Iran’s former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was the focus of a 2009 mass protest movement sparked by disputed presidential elections, on Thursday urged the clerical leadership to step down after the “crime” of its deadly crackdown on protests.
“In what language should the people say that they do not want this system and do not believe your lies? Enough is enough. The game is over,” said Mousavi, who has since 2011 been under house arrest, in a statement shared by his Kalame media outlet.
Mousavi claimed to have won the 2009 presidential elections against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the hard-liner’s victory was rigged and sparking vast protest rallies in his support known as the Green Movement.
In his statement, Mousavi said the crackdown on protests this month — seen as the biggest such movement in Iran since those 2009 giant rallies — was a “black page in the history of our nation” and a “great betrayal and a crime.”
Rights groups have verified thousands of deaths but fear tens of thousands could have been killed in total by security forces.
Mousavi said Iranians would have “no choice” but to protest again and security forces “will sooner or later refuse to take the burden” of suppressing the movement.
“Put down your gun and step down from power so that the nation itself can lead this land to freedom and prosperity,” he said.
With Washington not ruling out military strikes in the wake of the crackdown, Mousavi said “a constitutional referendum” should be held and also made clear he opposed “foreign intervention.”
Mousavi was prime minister from 1981 to 1989 under the presidency of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who became the Islamic republic’s supreme leader after the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Even in the 80s, Khamenei was long seen as a rival of Mousavi with the then premier regarded as a more moderate figure within the system.
One of few key figures to hold power in the 1980s without being a cleric, Mousavi was the last to serve as premier, a post which was scrapped in Iran’s revised constitution after Khomeini’s death.
“In what language should the people say that they do not want this system and do not believe your lies? Enough is enough. The game is over,” said Mousavi, who has since 2011 been under house arrest, in a statement shared by his Kalame media outlet.
Mousavi claimed to have won the 2009 presidential elections against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the hard-liner’s victory was rigged and sparking vast protest rallies in his support known as the Green Movement.
In his statement, Mousavi said the crackdown on protests this month — seen as the biggest such movement in Iran since those 2009 giant rallies — was a “black page in the history of our nation” and a “great betrayal and a crime.”
Rights groups have verified thousands of deaths but fear tens of thousands could have been killed in total by security forces.
Mousavi said Iranians would have “no choice” but to protest again and security forces “will sooner or later refuse to take the burden” of suppressing the movement.
“Put down your gun and step down from power so that the nation itself can lead this land to freedom and prosperity,” he said.
With Washington not ruling out military strikes in the wake of the crackdown, Mousavi said “a constitutional referendum” should be held and also made clear he opposed “foreign intervention.”
Mousavi was prime minister from 1981 to 1989 under the presidency of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who became the Islamic republic’s supreme leader after the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Even in the 80s, Khamenei was long seen as a rival of Mousavi with the then premier regarded as a more moderate figure within the system.
One of few key figures to hold power in the 1980s without being a cleric, Mousavi was the last to serve as premier, a post which was scrapped in Iran’s revised constitution after Khomeini’s death.
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