Turkey slams Washington’s remarks on religious freedom ahead Pompeo visit

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned visit to Turkey got off to a rocky start Wednesday when Ankara criticized his decision to raise the issue of religious freedom.

Washington’s top diplomat will be in Istanbul next Monday and Tuesday as part of a seven-nation tour that also takes him to France and parts of the Middle East.

The Istanbul leg is notable for an absence of scheduled meetings with any top Turkish officials.

The State Department said Pompeo wanted to “discuss religious issues in Turkey and the region and to promote our strong stance on religious freedom around the world.”

The meeting with the patriarch will come four months after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan converted Istanbul’s emblematic Hagia Sophia monument into a mosque.

Pompeo publicly criticized the conversion in July.

The Turkish foreign ministry called Pompeo’s chosen subject matter for the visit “completely irrelevant.”

“It would be more suitable for the US to first look in the mirror and show the requisite sensitivity towards human rights violations in the country such as racism, Islamophobia and hate crimes,” it said in the English-language statement.

Relations between Washington and its strategic NATO ally have run hot and cold during Donald Trump’s presidency.

(AFP)