Turkey request from NATO, meddling in Syrian affairs: Iran MP

Turkey’s request for the deployment of NATO’s Patriot surface-to-air missiles on its border with Syria is part of Ankara’s attempts to interfere in Damascus’ internal affairs, an Iranian lawmaker says.

“While the United Nations Charter has clearly barred countries from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, Turkey seeks to meddle in Syria’s domestic affairs by deploying the missile system on its borders with Syria,” member of the Majlis (parliament) Presiding Board Hossein Sobhani-Nia told ICANA on Saturday.

He cautioned that the deployment of the Patriot missiles on Turkey’s 900-km border would fuel tensions in the region.

Earlier this month, Ankara requested its NATO partners to deploy the Patriot missile systems to ‘protect’ its border with Syria.

Ankara’s request drew criticism from Damascus, which censured the move as another act of provocation by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has also warned that the move could tempt Ankara to use the weapons and spark a “very serious armed conflict” involving the NATO.

Sobhani-Nia added that Turkey and Arab countries opposing the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad made efforts to implement the West’s demands in Syria since the outset of the unrest in the crisis-hit state.

The Iranian legislator emphasized that the implementation of reforms is the only solution to the Syrian unrest and said that stability and peace would be restored in Damascus if foreign countries stopped interfering in Syria’s internal affairs.

Syria has been the scene of unrest since March 2011 and the Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country.

Some Western states, especially the United States, and their regional allies including the Saudi regime, Qatar and Turkey support the militants in Syria.