Turkeys’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu reacted strongly on January 26 to former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s allegations in his new book titled ‘Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love’. He called

the material “false information, exaggeration, double standards and disinformation.”

Çavuşoğlu commented: “I think, my former colleague wrote this book to launch the campaign for the presidential candidacy. There is false information. I’m saying it diplomatically, you can call it a ‘lie,’ there is an exaggeration, there is a double standard.”

Pompeo served as former President Donald Trump’s Secretary of State from 2018 to 2021. In his book, “Pompeo alleged that the Turkish army did not have the capacity to fight ISIL,” noted the newspaper Turkish Daily News (TDN).

“It is a sorry state to say in the book that the Turkish army does not have the capacity to defeat Daesh,” Çavuşoğlu said. ‘Daesh’ is Turkey’s term for ISIL.

TDN noted that Çavuşoğlu reminded that “the U.S. engagement with the PKK/YPG did not start during the term of Trump, but began in the period of former U.S. President Barack Obama. The Minister stated, “so, it is not their decision… The only army fighting close combat against Daesh was the Turkish army. While [we were] clearing the north of Syria from Daesh, the U.S. sent YPG and Daesh members to Afghanistan by planes and buses during the term of Pompeo. They are responsible for the attacks in Afghanistan.”

Çavuşoğlu then shifted into accusations against Washington with the declaration that that United States’ “support of terrorism so far” is a crime, and adding, “I believe there is significant disinformation in order not to be subject to legal procedures.”

TDN writes that “The minister further said Pompeo posted a tweet and then deleted it on the night of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt” against Erdogan. Çavuşoğlu said, “we understand that he supported the coup attempt. This is why he was disturbed by the video” – TDN noted that refers “to Pompeo’s comment that a video displayed in Ankara about the coup attempt was disturbing.”

TDN also reported that “Turkish presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, who attended a 2019 meeting between Erdoğan and U.S. Vice President Pence said Pompeo was ‘distorting’ the meeting in his description in the book.

(Material from Turkish Daily News was used in this article)