Turkey criticizes U.S. readout of foreign ministers' meeting

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Turkey's foreign minister on Thursday criticized a statement from the U.S. State Department about his meeting with his U.S. counterpart, saying references to Syria did not reflect the truth.

Speaking after a strongly worded statement by his ministry, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he was "really surprised" by the U.S. readout of his meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which he said had been prepared ahead of their meeting.

"Whether you look at the tone of the statement or the sentences it claimed Pompeo told us, we see it doesn't reflect the truth," Cavusoglu told reporters in the United States.

Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu (L) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo (R) in Washington, April 03, 2019. /VCG Photo

Turkey's Foreign Ministry earlier slammed the U.S. statement, saying it failed to reflect the content of the meeting and contained issues that were not discussed.

"Our alliance naturally requires that such statements are prepared with greater care, while avoiding to include matters that were not raised during meetings," said Hami Aksoy, a spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, the U.S. State Department's deputy spokesperson, Robert Palladino, said Pompeo had warned Cavusoglu about the "potentially devastating consequences of Turkish military action" in Syria.

However, Cavusoglu appeared to play down the dispute over the conflicting statements. "For some reason, our friends leave us foreign ministers in tough positions by making such statements," he said.

Source(s): Reuters