In rare rebuke of Iran, Turkey's Fidan calls its proxy strategy 'heavy burden'
The top Turkish diplomat criticized Iran's regional strategy and warned against aligning with Kurdish-led forces in Syria.
ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan criticized Iran's foreign policy of interference via proxy groups as a risky and expensive strategy.
“Iran's long-standing foreign policy through militias in regional countries is a policy that it has been managing with a great risk," Fidan told Al-Jazeera Arabic in an interview aired Thursday.
“This type of foreign policy may seem successful in the short term, but in the long run, it becomes a heavy burden on both the Iranian system and the region,” he said.
The remarks came in response to a question of whether the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in early December impacted Turkey-Iran relations. “This is my personal analysis," Fidan said.
