Turkish Interior Minister Urges US Ambassador to 'Take Dirty Hands' Off Turkey

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on Friday called on the US ambassador to Ankara to "take his dirty hands" off the country, accusing him of trying to "provoke" Turkey.

"I'm talking to the US ambassador … get your dirty hands off Turkey, I say it very clearly: get your dirty hands off Turkey. I know exactly what you have done, what steps you have taken, how you want to provoke Turkey," Soylu was quoted as saying by a Turkish TV channel.

Earlier this week, the consulates of Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany in Istanbul stopped receiving visitors after the US had issued a warning about possible terror attacks. On Thursday, Soylu called the move a "psychological war" against his country.

On Monday, the US Embassy in Turkey warned Americans of possible imminent retaliatory attacks by terrorists against churches, synagogues, and diplomatic missions in Istanbul or other places Westerners frequent, especially in the Beyoglu, Galata, Taksim and Istiklal areas. The warning was an update to the January 27 security alert released amid the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book by activists in Europe.

Earlier in January, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned copies of the Quran in Sweden and Denmark in protest against the Turkish leadership. A similar protest was carried out by Dutch politician and leader of the Islamophobic group Pegida Edwin Wagensveld in the Netherlands, when he tore out pages from a copy of the Muslim holy book and burned them in front of the parliamentary building in The Hague.