“Iran’s president has refused to attend mausoleum of Ataturk,” Iranian office of the BBC news agency reports.

Yesterday the Iranian President had left for Turkey for a two day visit after 18 years of break. There he has conducted meetings with the president Abdullah Gul and the PM of the country Rejep Tayyip Erdogan.

The article reads that although according to the Turkish protocol the foreign officials have to visit Ataturk’s mausoleum, the founder of Turkish Republic, however both Iranian presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1996 and the current president Hasan Rouhani have refused to attend the mausoleum.

The author of the article notes that the authorities of Iran compare Ataturk with Reza shah who has also struggled against Islam.