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Turkey tells US not to interfere in its internal matters

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Feb 04, 2021, 03:12 PM IST
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(File photo) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

Hundreds of students and their supporters were detained this week after police violently cracked down on protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's appointment last month of a loyalist as rector of Istanbul's elite Bogazici University

Turkey rejected USA's criticism over its mass detentions of students. Turkey has been witnessing student protests for about a month. It told Washington to not to interfere in its internal affairs.

Hundreds of students and their supporters were detained this week after police violently cracked down on protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's appointment last month of a loyalist as rector of Istanbul's elite Bogazici University.

On Wednesday, Erdogan criticised LGBT movement's role in student rallies and said that some of the student protesters were "terrorists".

The US State Department called Erdogan's "rhetoric" unacceptable, urging Turkey to embrace protests and "even speech that some may find uncomfortable".

The Turkish foreign ministry responded on Thursday by saying it would "advise those who dare to teach a lesson of democracy and law... to look in the mirror".

"No one should dare to interfere in Turkey's domestic affairs," it said in a statement.

But the statement responded only to Washington's criticism of the detentions, without referring to Erdogan's comments about the LGBT movement.

Erdogan on Wednesday said there was "no such thing" as LGBT, adding: "This country is... moral, and it will walk to the future with these values."

(With AFP inputs)