Erdogan: Violations of Turkish airspace cannot be tolerated

Ankara — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, 9 March, in a telephone call that every violation of Turkish airspace cannot be tolerated.

Erdogan made the statement during a telephone conversation at Iran’s request.

Prior to the call, on the same day, Turkey’s Ministry of Defence stated that a ballistic missile launched from Iran was successfully intercepted in the sky over Gaziantep Province in southeastern Turkey by missile defence assets and NATO forces deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean, with no reported casualties.

“Turkey is negatively affected by a conflict in which we are not involved. We will continue to take all necessary steps to address this,” Erdogan said.

During the telephone conversation, Pezeshkian stated that the missile that entered Turkish airspace “did not originate from Iran” and that Iran would conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.

Erdogan expressed deep condolences over the loss of life, particularly children killed in a bombing attack at a girls’ school in southern Iran, and again expressed sympathy over the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

He also expressed hope that the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Ali’s replacement would contribute to peace in the region.

The telephone conversation took place amid heightened regional tensions following a combined United States-Israeli attack on Iran that began on 28 February, which Iran countered with missile and drone attacks against Israel and US assets throughout the Middle East.