Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has expressed frustration with Western countries, including Germany and the US, for temporarily closing their diplomatic missions in Turkey without providing information to support their security concerns, Reuters reported.
“We see the closure of consulates without sharing the details with us as intentional,” Çavuşoğlu told reporters.
“If they want to give the impression that Turkey is an unstable country that faces a terrorism threat, this is not in line with our friendly and allied relationships.”
Over the last month far-right activists burned copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, acts that prompted Turkey to suspend negotiations meant to lift its objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Turkey had already increased security measures around foreign embassies and consulates after Quran-burning incidents, Çavuşoğlu said.
“But we see that some countries that have nothing to do with these incidents also shut their consulates. We have information that some countries asked others to shut their consulates,” he said.
Çavuşoğlu added that Turkey would take additional steps if these countries close their missions again without providing information.
On Wednesday the Turkish government summoned ambassadors from nine Western countries to criticize their decision, which was referred to as a “new psychological war” by the interior minister.