Turkey: Bolton's Book 'Misleading' on Erdogan-Trump Conversations

“We find it reprehensible that former high-level officials attempt to use serious diplomatic conversations and efforts to resolve outstanding issues between allies like the US and Turkey for their domestic political agendas,” said Fahrettin Altun, alluding to Bolton. 

Altun said Bolton's book included "one-sided" and "manipulative" representations of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conversations with his American counterpart Donald Trump, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.

"It is clear that the goals of these mischaracterizations and falsehoods are driven by domestic political considerations as well as personal gain," he asserted. 

Saying that Erdogan and Trump put great effort into repairing their countries' relations despite “deep differences” in policies and "some hostile voices toward Turkey in Washington," he added that Trump had done a lot more listening to NATO ally Turkey compared to some of the previous US administrations.

“We are confident that the US-Turkey relationship will survive such efforts and even thrive in the end. President Erdogan will continue his frank, honest and straightforward conversations with US President Donald Trump,” he said.

In his book, Bolton wrote that Erdogan gave Trump a memo saying Turkish state lender Halkbank, under investigation by the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York for violating sanctions, was innocent.

“Trump then told Erdogan he would take care of things, explaining that the Southern District prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people,” Bolton wrote.