Ankara, March 17: Turkey’s ambassador to Iran says despite governments’ violence against protesters in Arab countries, the protesters will eventually get their way.
“This issue — regional developments, bilateral and global developments — they will proceed their own way which I believe is to the benefit of our people, to the benefit of global developments,” Umit Yardim told Media on Wednesday.
“Otherwise, with such instability in our common region, it is going to be very difficult, extremely difficult to take our region to a higher level of civilization,” he warned.
The comments came as anti-government protests, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, are spreading into other countries in North Africa and the Middle East including Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.
But, the popular uprisings are facing especially severe crackdown in Bahrain and Libya.
In Bahrain, government forces, backed by more than 1,000 Saudi Arabian troops and 500 police forces from the United Arab Emirates, opened fire on anti-government protesters. Dozens of people were killed in the violence and many more were injured.
Six Bahraini protesters were killed on Wednesday in the capital Manama, while the city’s main Salmaniyeh hospital complex has also come under attack.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights says “state-organized murder” is taking place in Bahrain as foreign forces join Manama to quell ant-regime protests.
Meanwhile, thousands have been killed in Libya as Muammar Gaddafi’s regime continues its violent suppression of protesters, who have been calling for the long-time dictator to stand down.
———Agencies