Turkey summons Iran envoy over media linking Saudi executions with Tayyip Erdogan

Delhi: Turkey summoned Iran`s ambassador on Thursday to demand a halt to Iranisn media reports linking the execution of a Shi`ite cleric by Saudi Arabia with last week`s visit to Riyadh by President Tayyip Erdogan.

"We strongly condemn the linking of our president`s recent visit to Saudi Arabia to the executions sentenced in the country in stories published on media outlets linked to Iranian official bodies," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

A row has been raging for days between Shi`ite Muslim power Iran and the conservative Sunni kingdom since Saudi Arabia executed cleric Nimr al-Nimr, an opponent of the ruling dynasty who had demanded greater rights for the Shi`ite minority.