Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Thursday that the Turkish government is disturbed by Iran’s stance against Turkey, adding that his government will do “whatever is required” against Iranian threats, Todayzaman reported yesterday.


Speaking to a group of reporters over an iftar (fast-breaking) dinner, Arinc said that Ankara is uncomfortable with the positions the Iranian government has taken recently towards Turkey on a number of issues, not necessarily tied to the Syrian crisis.

“What I mean by disturbing behavior [by the Iranian regime] is not related to Syria,” he said, stressing that Turkey will do ‘whatever is required” to counter Iranian threats.

The Turkish minister implied that a recent surge in terror attacks in Turkey's Southeast has the backing of Iran.
“We have received information that Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] terrorists infiltrated from the Iranian side of the border and that they were stationed in the Shehidan camp [in Iran] and crossed into Turkey from the region of Harkuk in northern Iraq,” he said.