US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to visit Turkey next week, but he won't meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a matter which considered by Turkish officials as an 'insult', according to Bloomberg.
Pompeo's seven-nation trip focuses on key issues foremost of which, religious freedom.
In Turkey, the US Secretary of State is scheduled to meet with a number of religious figures including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholowew I, the Greek Orthodox Christian leader.
According to US officials, Pompeo will not travel to the capital, Ankara.
On its part, the Turkish Foreign Ministry described Pompeo's planned meetings as "extremely inappropriate" intervention and defended Turkey's record on religious freedom despite Erdogan's actions.
Moreover, a senior Turkish official said that Pompeo declined an invitation from his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to come to Ankara, and instead asked him to come to Istanbul to meet there.
Pompeo 10-day trip includes France, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. He plans to meet senior leaders of all states except Turkey.
On the other hand, US State Department officials said Pompeo was unable to hold a meeting with Turkish officials due to a “tight schedule.”
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