US Envoy, opposition candidate meeting 'unacceptable': Turkish FM
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Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party called the meeting "a blatant scandal," the Aydinlik newspaper reported.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.(AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday called the meeting between US Ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake and Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu "unacceptable," noting that the timing of the meeting was very inappropriate considering the fact that elections are nearing ahead.
On April 2, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his doors were closed to US Ambassador to Turkey Jeffrey Flake after he met with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan's main opponent in the upcoming elections.
"[US President] Joe Biden's ambassador visits Kemal. Shame on you, think with your head. You are an ambassador. Your interlocutor here is the president. How will you stand up after that and ask for a rendezvous with the president? Our doors are closed for him, he can no longer come in. Why? He needs to know his place," Erdogan said on Sunday, as quoted by the Turkish Star newspaper.
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Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party called the meeting "a blatant scandal," the Aydinlik newspaper reported.
Cavusoglu, on his part, told Turkish journalists in Brussels today that it is "appropriate for the ambassador to meet with a candidate while the country is dominated by the election atmosphere, so as not to give the impression that he has taken sides. This is unacceptable."
Just five days after the US ambassador was appointed to office on January 2022, Flake launched a series of meetings with several key figures of the Turkish opposition.
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