ANKARA: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi did not appear on Tuesday at a summit in Ankara that Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier announced to reporters — but which Tehran itself never officially confirmed.
The confusion around Raisi’s visit underscores the tensions that linger between the two regional powers despite their shared views on the Israel-Hamas war.
The Turkish presidency told AFP that Erdogan had no meetings planned for Tuesday and did not explain whether the visit had been cancelled or postponed. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Raisi’s visit to Turkey had “been postponed”.
It also provided no reason or other details.
Erdogan had personally announced the Iranian president’s first official visit to Turkey on his return flight from a summit between regional leaders in Riyadh on November 11 that was also attended by Raisi.
“Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is coming to us on the 28th of the month,” Erdogan told reporters on board the flight. The visit was also announced by Turkey’s state media and discussed extensively on television as late as Monday. But it was never officially confirmed by Raisi’s office or Iran’s official media.
The two presidents and the countries’ top diplomats had phone conversations over the weekend focused on the Gaza war.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed “his hope that with the continuation of high-level diplomacy between the two countries, the two (sides) can see the strengthening and deepening of mutual cooperation”, the Iranian foreign ministry said after the call.
Erdogan has emerged as one of the Muslim world’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack. He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and called Iran-backed Hamas “a liberation group”. But analysts believe that Iran wants Turkey to move past the rhetoric and sever its blossoming trade and energy ties with Israel.
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