Tehran, March 02: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has extended his condolences to Turkey over the passing of former Turkish Premier Najm al-Din Erbakan.
In a letter to his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, Salehi also offered his condolences to Erbakan’s relatives, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I have always admired Erbakan as a great statesman and had high esteem for him,” Salehi said in his letter.
Erbakan became prime minister in 1996 as the first devout Muslim to hold the office in modern Turkey.
He was born on October 29, 1926 and passed away on February 27, 2011.
“We are in great sorrow at losing a statesman, a man of politics and science,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in a written statement on Sunday.
On Tuesday, a special session was held in the Turkish parliament to honor the memory of Erbakan.
——–Agencies