ANKARA (Dispatches) – The Turkish interior minister has lashed out at the U.S. ambassador in Ankara after Washington and eight European countries issued travel warnings and moved to temporarily close their diplomatic missions in Turkey over purported security concerns.
Suleyman Soylu, an outspoken critic of the United States who accuses Washington of the 2016 military coup attempt and plots to portray Turkey as an unstable state, railed against U.S. ambassador Jeffry Flake on Friday, telling him to take his “dirty hands off of Turkey.”
“Every U.S. ambassador who arrives in Turkey is hurrying to find out how to make a coup possible in Turkey,” Soylu said in an address at a ministerial event in the Turkish city of Antalya.
“I address the U.S. ambassador from here. I know the journalists you made write articles,” he added. “Take your dirty hands off of Turkey. I’m being very clear. I very well know how you would like to create strife in Turkey. Take your grinning face off from Turkey.”
Soylu also accused U.S. embassies in Europe of convening together in an attempt to control the continent. He stressed that U.S. efforts in Turkey were “futile” thanks to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The U.S., along with eight European countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, have since last week either temporarily shut their embassies and consulates in Turkey or issued travel warnings after widespread protests against the desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Europe.
On Thursday, Soylu condemned the closures as an attempt to meddle in campaigning for Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for 14 May. The Turkish interior minister and other officials also suggested that the Western states had issued the security warnings in order to pressure Turkey to tone down its criticism of the sacrilegious move and resolve the NATO dispute.
Meanwhile, U.S. senators have warned the Turkish government that if it wants upgrades for its F-16 jet fighters, Ankara must agree with the NATO bids of Finland and Sweden.
A bipartisan group of senators said on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden should tell Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the U.S. Congress is unlikely to approve fighter jet upgrades for Turkey if Ankara disagrees with Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO.
Erdogan has said that he has a positive view of Finland’s request to join NATO, but he will not support Sweden’s proposal due to its disrespect to the Muslim holy book.
Like other parts of the Muslim world, tempers are running high in Turkey over the repeated Islamophobic incidents in recent days.
Protesters across various Muslim countries chanted slogans and vented their anger against the silence of the West regarding repeated sacrilegious incidents. Demonstrators also called on Muslim nations to boycott European goods.