Turkey on Thursday accused the US State Department of making false claims about rows during a meeting between the top US and Turkish diplomats, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he stood by the account.
The NATO allies are at odds over issues including US support for a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as terrorists by Ankara and Turkeys purchase of a Russian missile system over US objections.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks on Wednesday during the Turkish officials visit to Washington as part of 70th-anniversary celebrations of the NATO alliance.
The US State Department said Pompeo had warned Ankara of “potentially devastating consequences” if Turkey launches an offensive in Syria and urged the “swift resolution” of legal cases involving US citizens and US mission employees under investigation in Turkey.
Pompeo also pressed Cavusoglu about Turkeys plans to buy the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, which Washington has warned could put Ankara at risk of US sanctions, the State Department said in a statement.
But Cavusoglu questioned on the issue by reporters in Washington insisted “I was there… such language was never used, on Syria particularly they never mentioned such things about unilateral actions from Turkey.”
He backed up earlier comments by his foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said the US readout “not only fails to reflect the content of the meeting but also contains matters that were not even raised during the said meeting”.
It was not clear what “matters” Aksoy was referring to in his statement and foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. Aksoy said similar problems had arisen after previous talks, and urged statements to be prepared with “greater care”.
Pompeo, asked by reporters about the Turkish comments, insisted that the State Department account was accurate. “Ive re-read the readout of our meeting. Spot on. Stand by every word of it,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo said he believed that Turkey “understands the AmeRead More – Source
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