Claims that groups within US behind protests in Turkey, Egypt and Ukraine ‘ridiculous’: Washington

WASHINGTON

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf

A U.S. State Department Spokesperson has categorically denied that groups within the United States are behind the mass protests and upheavals in Turkey, Egypt and Ukraine, describing the claims voiced by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as “ridiculous.”

“We are not behind any of the legitimate, democratic protests we’ve seen in any of those countries. So let’s be very clear that this is not about what the U.S. is doing, because we’re not doing anything. This is an internal Turkish matter. That’s where they need to focus,” U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said during a daily press briefing on April 30.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan compared protests in Turkey, Egypt and Ukraine during an interview with PBS’s Charlie Rose on April 28, claiming that the “same groups” from the U.S. were responsible for the unrest in those countries.

Harf, however, said the claims were “ridiculous” and “not borne out by the facts on the ground.”