Washington and Ankara traded accusations on Friday over a statement that was issued after a meeting Wednesday between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Washington confirmed that it supported the readout of the meeting, while Ankara rejected it.
"I read the readout of our meeting. Spot on. Every word of it," Pompeo told reporters at the State Department Friday.
He said he warned Cavusoglu about "the potentially devastating consequences of unilateral Turkish military action" in the northeast of Syria.
The State Department readout, attributed to spokesperson Robert Palladino, said Pompeo had expressed support for negotiations in areas east of the Euphrates River.
Turkey expressed irritation with the State Department over its description of the meeting.
Spokesperson Hami Aksoy accused the State Department of having written its readout before the meeting had even taken place and said that it included things that were never brought up.
"The readout published today by the Department of State and obviously prepared before the meeting between Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not only fails to reflect the content of the meeting but also contains matters that were not even raised during the said meeting," Aksoy said in a statement.
“Similar issues were encountered during past meetings. Our alliance requires that such statements are prepared with greater care while avoiding to include matters that were not raised during meetings,” he added.
Anadolu Agency reported from Turkish diplomats that the two ministers discussed bilateral ties and latest developments.
The Turkish FM expressed surprise, saying that the released statement did not reflect the actual language used in the meeting.
"With regards to this readout, I was there and we know what we talked about. Such language was never used, in Syria particularly they never mentioned such things about the unilateral actions of Turkey," Cavusoglu told reporters at a news conference in Washington.
Pompeo discussed with his Turkish counterpart concerns over Turkey’s intention to purchase the S-400 missile defense system from Russia.
United States officials have repeatedly warned of the risks the Russian system would pose to Western defenses and the lack of interoperability with NATO hardware.
The US said on Monday it was halting all deliveries and joint work with Turkey on the F-35 fighter jet program if Ankara insisted on the deal.
