Turkey conveys concern to US over PM’s words

ISTANBUL

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has announced that Turkey conveyed to the U.S. side its reaction concerning the White House spokesperson’s “strong condemnation” of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusation of Israel of plotting the overthrow of the Egyptian president, describing the U.S. statement as “unacceptable.”

In an interview broadcast live on private television channel Kanal 24 late on Aug. 21, Davutoğlu said that Erdoğan targeted a mentality in his comments claiming that Israel was behind the military takeover in Egypt. On Aug. 20, Erdoğan had claimed to have evidence that Israel orchestrated the July 3 military takeover that toppled the elected President Mohamed Morsi in Egypt, triggering a strong response from Washington. The White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said that the comments were “offensive and unsubstantiated and wrong,” and damaging for regional cooperation.

It was veteran ambassador, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who called “his counterpart in Washington” in order to convey this “reaction,” with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials saying that “Turkey’s reaction has thus been conveyed at the highest level.”

When asked whether Sinirlioğlu initiated the said contact with Washington through Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns in order to convey Ankara’s reaction, diplomatic sources were not able to elaborate.

“Our messages have been conveyed by our Undersecretary to his counterparts in Ankara and his other counterparts,” the same diplomatic sources said, instead, in response to the question.

For his part, during the interview, Davutoğlu said of Erdoğan’s comments: “He gives an example from a meeting of two years ago [in his speech.] He explains a mentality.”

“If you look at [Erdoğan’s] speech, he doesn’t even once mention the United States. We have transmitted them that we could not accept a condemnation regarding a text in which the U.S. wasn’t mentioned,” Davutoğlu said.