Turkey says Bolton's book 'misleading' on Erdogan-Trump conversations

Turkey has said that a book by former US national security adviser John Bolton had "misleading" and "manipulative presentations" of the conversations between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the US President Donald Trump.

Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish presidency's communications director, tweeted on Wednesday that Erdogan and Trump had made great efforts to mend ties between the two countries and that Trump "has done a lot more listening to a key NATO ally than some of the previous administrations."

"Recent publication of a book authored by a high-level former US official includes misleading, one-sided and manipulative presentations of our leader President Erdogan’s conversations with the US President Donald Trump," Altun's Twitter post said.

In his book, Bolton wrote that Erdogan gave Trump a memo saying Turkish state lender Halkbank, under investigation by the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York for violating Iranian sanctions, was innocent.

"Trump then told Erdogan he would take care of things, explaining that the Southern District prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people," Bolton wrote.

For the Halkbank issue, Fahrettin Altun said that President Erdogan has advocated Turkey's priorities “publicly and privately” along with other issues including YPG/PKK and FETO terror groups.

The Halkbank case had been one of the main issues between Turkey and the US, among other issues including policy differences in Syria, Turkey's purchase of Russian missile defence systems, US supporting of PKK/YPG terror group and being a haven for Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) members.

READ MORE: What’s happening with Turkey’s Halkbank?

Altun also stressed that many of the issues between Washington and Ankara have been lingering since the administration of previous US President Barack Obama.

"In fact, President Trump has done a lot more listening to a key NATO ally than some of the previous administrations. We have seen it only natural for him to do so," Altun stated.

Turkish and American leaders have been found close relations which leads to solving the issues diplomatically.

"President Erdogan will continue his frank, honest, and straightforward conversations with the US President Donald Trump," Altun said.