Turkey said on Thursday it had summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Iranian press.

Turkey said on Thursday it had summoned Iran's ambassador to protest criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Iranian press in the wake of a diplomatic crisis between Tehran and Riyadh over the Gulf Kingdom’s execution of prominent cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

"We strongly condemn our president being directly targeted in certain articles in Iranian outlets controlled by the Iranian authorities... and demand that these articles cease immediately," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Erdogan has refused to condemn Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr this month. The execution sparked outrage in several areas of the Middle East especially in Tehran and criticism by several rights groups. Iranian protesters in Iran, angered by the execution of Sheikh Nimr, attacked two Saudi diplomatic missions.

The prominent cleric, was a vocal supporter of the mass pro-democracy protests against Riyadh, which erupted in Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority has long complained of marginalization.

The Turkish foreign ministry meanwhile, slammed the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran as "unacceptable and deplorable".

Turkey formally abolished the death penalty in 2004 as part of its bid to join the EU.

Erdogan on Wednesday said that Nimr's execution was an "internal legal matter" for Saudi Arabia, and ties between Ankara and Riyadh have improved in recent months. The Turkish leader visited Riyadh last month in a new sign of warming bilateral ties.

Following Sheikh Nimr execution, and in a bid to cover up the move against peaceful pro-democracy movements against Al Saud regime, Riyadh cut its ties with Tehran. Many other countries made similar move in solidarity with the Gulf Kingdom.

On Wednesday, Djibouti became the fourth country after Sudan and Bahrain to cut ties with the Islamic Republic. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) partially downgraded its relations with Iran, while Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan have recalled their envoys from Tehran.