New Zealand “won’t worry about the political response” that followed sharp comments made by Turkey’s leader in the wake of the mass shootings in Christchurch mosques, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said on Wednesday, carefully navigating his way around the issue during a visit to the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

Peters refused to add fuel to the flame after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison threatened to review ties with Turkey, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded New Zealand reinstate the death penalty for the white supremacist gunman behind Friday’s massacre.

“Again it’s premature [to say],” he said in a joint press conference in Jakarta, in response to a question about whether Wellington would take measures against Turkey. “We’re going to the [Organization for Islamic Cooperation] conference in two days’ time to set any records straight.”

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is also scheduled to attend the meeting.

Erdogan had already been sharply rebuked by New Zealand for his comments and for using gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop.

Peters said he had complained directly to visiting Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“He should have showed more compassion,” Peters said of the Turkish president.

Australia’s Morrison condemned “reckless” and “highly offensive” comments made by President Erdogan, warning he would consider “all options” in reviewing ties.

Erdogan has warned that anti-Muslim Australians — like the suspected gunman — would be “sent back in coffins” like their grandfathers at Gallipoli, which was the scene of a blood-drenched World War I battle.

More than 8,000 Australians died fighting Turkish forces around the seaside town, a landmark moment in Australian history.

“Remarks have been made by the Turkish President Erdogan that I consider highly offensive to Australians and highly reckless in this very sensitive environment,” Morrison was quoted by AFP as saying, after summoning the Turkish ambassador and dismissing the “excuses” offered.

“I am expecting, and I have asked, for these comments to be clarified, to be withdrawn,” Morrison, who also faces an election challenge in the coming weeks, said.

“I’ve asked for these comments, particularly their reporting of the misrepresented position of Australia on Turkish television, the state-sponsored broadcaster, to be taken down and I expect that to occur.”

He described claims about Australia and New Zealand’s response to the white supremacist attack as “vile”.

Erdogan has since struck a more conciliatory note in an op-ed for The Washington Post, calling on “all Western leaders [to] learn from the courage, leadership and sincerity of New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, to embrace Muslims living in their respective countries”.

Peters was in Indonesia for a high-level dialogue on Indo-Pacific cooperation, and held sideline talks with Vice President Jusuf Kalla to pass on condolences to the family of Lilik Abdul Hamid, an Indonesian citizen who perished in the mosque attack.

Two other Indonesians remain hospitalized.

Vice President Kalla welcomed Peters’ message and thanked the government of New Zealand for its rapid response to the tragedy in Christchurch, and for arresting the culprit.

New Zealand’s handling of the mass shooting has found wide praise internationally, particularly in the Muslim world.

Speaking to parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tallied the measures currently in place “to ensure the safety of our Muslim community” and the broader population, which includes police protection at mosques, coverage of funeral costs by the state and the prioritization of visas for the families of the deceased to attend funerals in New Zealand.

She also prefaced her speech to lawmakers with “Al salam alaikum” — the traditional Muslim greeting of peace — and refused to name the culprit, an avowed white nationalist from Australia.

Earlier this week, Indonesia’s foreign minister summoned the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Gary Quinlan in response to the uninformed comments made by a right-wing senator from Queensland, Fraser Anning.

In a closed-door meeting with Quinlan in Jakarta, Retno strongly condemned Anning’s statement that victims of the bloodshed in Christchurch were not “blameless” because of their faith.

Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said on a separate occasion that Indonesia would exercise its right to ban the Australian senator, saying his statement showed a lack of understanding of Islam.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who was also in Jakarta for the Indo-Pacific meeting, went on Twitter on Wednesday to express Australia’s “most sincere condolences to members of Indonesia’s Muslim community”, during a visit to Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta.

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia