Country unsettled by "anti-Islamic" messages in U.S. presidential race

Turkey is unsettled by "anti-Islamic" messages in the U.S. presidential race, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a wide-ranging policy speech to Turkish ambassadors on Monday.

Cavusoglu defended Turkey's deployment of a force protection unit to Bashiqa in Iraq, which has caused a diplomatic row with Baghdad, saying Ankara respected Iraq's territorial integrity and that the deployment was made after security deteriorated.

Speaking at an annual ambassadors' conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu said Turkey was ready to do what is needed to help end tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which escalated after Riyadh executed a senior Shi'ite cleric on Jan. 2 and Tehran failed to defend the Saudi embassy against an attack.