WikiLeaks: Obama calls Turkish PM over leaked cables

Erdogan says the incident will not harm diplomatic relations with US; says "agenda between us" will not be "allowed to be changed artificially."

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama and Erdogan 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Obama and Erdogan 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
ISTANBUL — President Barack Obama called Turkey's prime minister to mend ties following the release on the WikiLeaks website of US diplomatic cables containing negative comment about the Turkish leadership, the government said Sunday.
Obama called Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday and told him that some of the comment in the cables does not reflect the view of the current U.S. government, and that the US-Turkish alliance is vital, Erdogan's office said in a statement on its website.
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Earlier this month, Erdogan reacted furiously to claims relayed in a 2004 diplomatic memo that he has money in Swiss bank accounts. He said US diplomats should be punished for what he described as slander.
Another US diplomatic cable, dated February 2009, claimed that Erdogan's friends were benefiting from Turkey's business deals with Iran.
In the conversation, Erdogan said the incident will not harm diplomatic relations and that he had appreciated US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's expression of regret on the matter, the office said.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the latest Wikileaks
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the latest Wikileaks
"It is important that the agenda between us not be allowed to be changed artificially," Erdogan's office cited him as telling Obama. "The fact that information based on gossip has been reflected in official documents, as well as the wording and allegations, is of course disturbing. However we are ready to do together whatever is needed during this process."