Erdogan's Spokesman Refutes Reports Over Trump's Apology for Guard Brawl

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin refuted the recent reports on Trump's apology to Erdogan over the clashes between Erdogan's guards and protesters in Washington, saying that the interview of the Turkish president to US TV show PBS NewsHour was translated incorrectly.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan never said that US President Donald Trump had apologized to him for the clashes between Erdogan's guards and protesters in Washington, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Thursday, stressing that the Turkish leader's interview was translated incorrectly.

On Tuesday, US TV show PBS NewsHour aired an interview with the Turkish president, during which he spoke Turkish. According to the translation provided by the TV channel, Erdogan claimed that his US counterpart issued him an apology during the recent phone call regarding the aforementioned incident. The media reports were then refuted by the White House.

President Erdoğan didn't say President Trump "apologized" to him but was "saddened by" what happened. This is the correct translation. https://t.co/Nm6xQ5NYKV

— Ibrahim Kalin (@ikalin1) September 20, 2017

​Erdogan's security personnel clashed with Kurdish protesters in the vicinity of the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington during the Turkish president's visit to the United States in May. Videos of the incident showed Erdogan's bodyguards hitting and kicking protesters as the president looked on from his car.

In late August, the US government brought up charges against 19 people, including 15 Turkish security service officers, for attacking the participants of the rally, which, according to Turkish officials, caused serious damage to Turkish-US relations.