Washington dismisses Erdoğan’s ‘cacophony’ complaint

WASHINGTON

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki speaks during a press conference. AA Photo

Washington has dismissed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remarks suggesting there is a “cacophony” of different views among the United States authorities.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she did not agree with Erdoğan’s complaint, suggesting that the differences in responses could be “due to the differences in questions.”

After a reporter at the State Department’s daily press briefing on Nov. 3 asked, “Do you think you give different messages to the world?” Psaki replied, “I don’t think so.”

“I would say that, obviously, the questions that come to the Pentagon are often very military-operational. The questions that come here are often more about our relationship. And often, the White House gets questions about politics. So sometimes it reflects the questions that are being asked,” she said.

Speaking to reporters on Oct. 31, Erdoğan had complained about “disharmony” between the remarks of different authorities in Washington, while repeating his criticism of the U.S. over the airdropping of weapons to Kurdish forces in Syria.

“The spokespersons of each unit in the U.S. sound different to each other on these issues. The White House spokesperson says something, the Pentagon spokesperson says something else, the State Department spokesperson says another thing, and the National Security Council spokesperson says something different from them all,” he had said.

No plans to mediate Kurdish talks: Psaki

Psaki also commented on outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) suggestion of the U.S. as a potential intermediary between Turkey and the Kurds.

Senior PKK commander Cemil Bayık told an Austrian newspaper on Nov. 2 that they were looking for an intermediary between the PKK and the Turkish government, suggesting that the U.S. might play that role.

“I’m not aware of any plans to be an intermediary there, given that we talked to the PKK through intermediaries until just a few weeks ago,” Psaki said, adding that she is “happy to take that into the group and see where we are on that.”