Turkey confirmed - today, Friday - that Western countries, including the United States and Germany, did not provide it with any information about security threats that prompted it to suspend the work of its missions in the country.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the temporary suspension of some countries' embassies and consulates without consulting with Ankara was "deliberate."
Davutoglu said those countries may be trying to portray Turkey as a "troubled country" when they temporarily closed embassies and consulates and issued travel warnings in the wake of Quran burnings in Europe.
The Turkish minister asked: "If there is a terrorist threat, shouldn't our ally tell us about the source of this threat and who is behind it?" He stressed the absence of any tangible sharing of information with the Turkish side, accusing those countries of "thinking only of themselves."
And last week, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and other countries issued warnings to their citizens of the increased risk of attacks in Turkey, especially against diplomatic missions and places of worship of religions other than Islam, in the wake of protests that included the burning of copies of the Noble Qur’an in European countries.
The Turkish minister also stated that his country had tightened its security measures on the missions of some countries after burning a copy of the Holy Qur’an, indicating that some European countries that had nothing to do with the incident also closed their missions.
Western countries, including France, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, announced in recent days the temporary suspension of the services of their consular offices in Istanbul.
Yesterday, Thursday, Ankara summoned the ambassadors of 9 Western countries, against the backdrop of warnings it issued of the existence of security threats in Turkey.