ANKARA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Friday called on Iran and the United States to avoid unilateral steps that would jeopardize regional stability over the killing of Qasem Soleimani, a commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
"We are deeply concerned about the escalating of the U.S.-Iranian tension in the region. We strongly re-emphasize the warning that turning Iraq into a conflict zone will harm the peace and stability of both Iraq and our region," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.
The U.S. airstrike in Iraqi capital Baghdad targeting the convoy of Soleimani will increase the insecurity and instability of the region, said the ministry.
Such escalating steps will increase the "spiral of violence" and all parties will suffer from this situation, said the statement.
"Turkey always rejects any foreign intervention in the region, assassinations or sectarian conflict," said the statement.
For this reason, Turkey invites all parties to "act in common sense and sobriety, to avoid unilateral steps that would jeopardize the peace and stability of the region and to prioritize diplomacy," stated the ministry.
A U.S. attack near Baghdad International Airport on Friday killed Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces.
