MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Larijani also called on the Turkish government to avoid expressing any unneighborly attitudes, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech during visit to Bahrain, when he accused Tehran of seeking defragmentation of both Syria and Iraq.
"The [recommendation that Iranians] avoid traveling to Turkey does not mean abnormal ties. We have to take such measures to protect the lives of our citizens … Turkey is a friend of ours, and we have high-level trade ties with that country," Larijani said at a press conference in Tehran, as quoted by the Tasnim news agency.
Karlov was shot dead on December 19 by Turkish off-duty police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas at the opening of an art gallery exhibition. The Iranian Foreign Ministry urged citizens to avoid traveling to Turkey following the incident.
