PM Erdoğan: "Mr. Kerry and Mr. Davutoglu "must have spoken about everything so there is nothing left for us to talk about."

PM Erdoğan: "Mr. Kerry and Mr. Davutoglu "must have spoken about everything so there is nothing left for us to talk about.".(WSJ).Mr. Kerry is in Turkey seeking a unified position on international efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to curb Iran's nuclear program, according to U.S. officials.
But they expressed concern that the increasing gulf between Turkey and Israel—once strategic allies—could undercut U.S. efforts to work with Mr. Erdogan to stabilize the Middle East.

"It does have a corrosive effect" on our relations, said a senior U.S. official traveling with Mr. Kerry, speaking about Mr. Erdogan's latest comments. "It complicates our ability to do all of the things that we want to do together when we have such a profound disagreement about such an important thing."

Mr. Kerry wasn't as critical Friday at a news briefing with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu. But the American diplomat personally pressed Mr. Erdogan to pull back from his repeated attacks on the Jewish state, according to U.S. officials.

"We not only disagree with it, we found it objectionable," Mr. Kerry said. "I believe there is a way forward, but it obviously gets more complicated in the aftermath of a speech such as the one we heard in Vienna."

Mr. Davutoglu said Turkey viewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as a regional aggressor. The Turkish diplomat cited the 2010 naval conflict when Israeli marines killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American in fighting aboard a Palestinian aid ship that attempted to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"If we must talk about hostile acts, then Israel's attitude and its brutal killing of nine of our civilian citizens in international waters may be called hostile,'' Mr. Davutoglu said.

Mr. Kerry received a frosty reception from Mr. Erdogan later Friday when the U.S. delegation arrived one hour late for a meeting at the Turkish leader's residence. Mr. Erdogan said that Mr. Kerry and Mr. Davutoglu "must have spoken about everything so there is nothing left for us to talk about."

"We need you to sign off on everything," Mr. Kerry replied in a joking tone.

The Obama administration also has angered Ankara by moving to halt Turkey's gold sales to Iran, believed by U.S. Treasury officials to be a way for Tehran to dodge international sanctions on its nuclear program.

Mr. Erdogan in November strongly backed the Palestinian militant group Hamas in its military conflict with Israel. At the time, Turkey's leader labeled Israel a "terrorist state" and accused Mr. Netanyahu of "ethnic cleansing" during the Gaza conflict.

According to White House records, President Barack Obama and Mr. Erdogan spoke 18 times in 2011, and five times in 2012.Hmmmm....How many times did Mr. Erdogan speak to Mr. Ahmadinejad?Who needs enemies with such 'allies'?Read the full story here.