Turkish parliament's head condemns US House Speaker

ANKARA

Turkey's parliament speaker on Friday “regretfully” condemned US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi for anti-Turkey remarks.

"I regretfully condemn Nancy Pelosi,..., for making Turkey the subject&addressee of her heinous language which she uses in domestic political payoffs in the US and making ignorant and disrespectful characterizations about Turkey," Mustafa Sentop wrote on Twitter.

He reminded her of Turkey's parliamentary and constitutional tradition for 144 years, citing that Turkey was one of the world's long-established democracies among countries.

"If Nancy Pelosi is sincere about the sensitivity of democracy, she must pay in front of the global community for the US policies that prefer useful dictators and pro-coup generals against legitimate leaders and that support coups d'état in various countries including Turkey," he said.

"I advise N.Pelosi&other like-minded politicians to give up running election campaigns by attacking other countries&in particular Turkey and learn to make politics w/out taking shelter in the concept of democracy which had been disgraced by some hypocrite western politicians," he noted.

During a press conference Wednesday, US President Donald Trump was asked if there would be a peaceful transition of power if he loses the 2020 presidential elections.

"Well, we'll have to see what happens," Trump said.

In response, Pelosi said: "We do know who he admires. He admires [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, he admires Kim Jong Un, he admires [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan in Turkey."

"But I remind him, you are not in North Korea, you are not in Turkey, you are not in Russia, Mr. President - and by the way, you are not in Saudi Arabia. You are in the United States of America, it is a democracy, so why don't you just try for a moment to honor your oath of office, to the Constitution of the United States?" she added.