March - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda
Ardern said on Wednesday Foreign Minister Winston Peters will
travel to Turkey to "confront" comments made by Turkish
President Tayyip Erdogan on the killing of 50 people at mosques
in Christchurch.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white
supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday after a lone
gunman opened fire at the two mosques during Friday prayers.
Erdogan - who is seeking to drum up support for his
Islamist-rooted AK Party in March 31 local elections - said on
Tuesday Turkey would make the suspected attacker pay if New
Zealand did not.
The comments came at a campaign rally that included video
footage of the shootings that the alleged gunman had broadcast
on Facebook.
Ardern said Peters would seek urgent clarification.
"Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those
comments in Turkey," Ardern told reporters in Christchurch.
"He
is going there to set the record straight, face-to-face."
Erdogan has referred to the mosque shootings several times
during public gatherings in recent days.
Turkish Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun
said comments made by Erdogan on Monday during the commemoration
of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding
he was responding to the attacker's "manifesto", which was
posted online by the attacker and later taken down.
"Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts
to their Anzac visitors," Altun said on Twitter, using the
abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
"As he was giving the speech at the Canakkale (Gallipoli)
commemoration, he framed his remarks in a historical context of
attacks against Turkey, past and present."
During his speech on Monday, Erdogan described the mass
shooting as part of a wider attack on Turkey and threatened to
send back "in caskets" anyone who tried to take the battle to
Istanbul.
Peters had earlier condemned the airing of footage of the
shooting, which he said could endanger New Zealanders abroad.
Despite Peters' intervention, an extract from Tarrant's
alleged manifesto was flashed up on a screen at Erdogan's rally
again on Tuesday, along with footage of the gunman entering one
of the mosques and shooting as he approached the door.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he
summoned Turkey's ambassador for a meeting, during which he
demanded Erdogan's comments be removed from Turkey's state
broadcaster.
"I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish
government before taking further action, but I can tell you that
all options are on the table," Morrison told reporters in
Canberra.
Australia's ambassador to Turkey would meet with members of
Erdogan's government on Wednesday, Morrison said.
Morrison said Canberra is also reconsidering its travel
advice for Australians planning trips to Turkey.
Relations between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia have
generally been good. Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders
travel each year to Turkey for war memorial services.
Just over a century ago, thousands of soldiers from the
ANZAC struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli during an
ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives.
Visitors come to the area to honour their nations’ fallen on
ANZAC Day every April 25.