Epress.am News from Armenia
The United States on Monday denied reports it had given Turkey an ultimatum, threatening to scrap a huge arms deal unless the Muslim state toned down its hostile stance against Israel, reports Israel’s Haaretz.com.
Earlier Monday the Financial Times reported that US President Barack Obama had warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that strained ties with Israel and increasing support of Iran could hinder Washington’s plan to ship arms, including sophisticated drones, to Turkey.
But the White House has rejected the claims.
“I really don’t know where they would have divined that from,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters.
“The President and Erdogan did speak about 10 days ago and they talked about Iran and the flotilla and other issues related to that. But we obviously have an ongoing dialogue with them. But no such ultimatum was issued.There’s no ultimatum,” he said.
Burton’s comments apparently contradict those of a senior Obama administration official quoted by the FT.
“The president has said to [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill [Congress] . . . about whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally,” the Londion paper quoted the official as saying.