US Diplomat Summoned to Turkish Foreign Ministry Over Embassy's Like on Twitter

On Saturday, the American Embassy liked a Tweet aimed at Devlet Bahçeli, the chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MPH), amid rumours about his health issues. However, the next day the US diplomats apologised for it, stressing that it was a mistake.

US Chargé d'Affaires in Ankara Jeffrey M. Hovenier was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry after the embassy liked a post on Twitter, a source said on Sunday. According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy, the diplomat had to explain the incident to authorities.

Earlier today our Embassy Twitter account “liked” an unrelated post in error. We regret the mistake and apologize for any confusion.

— US Embassy Turkey (@USEmbassyTurkey) October 5, 2019

​The message predicting the collapse of the party was published by a member of Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen's FETO group, which is blacklisted by Ankara as an armed terrorist organisation. The Turkish authorities blame the movement for 2016 military coup attempt, which led to mass arrests across the country.

Ankara view

© Sputnik / Anton Denisov

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The Nationalist Movement Party, which has 40 MPs in the Turkish Grand National Assembly is an ally of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.