Turkey's foreign ministry summons US chargé d'affaires over spying claims

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned the U.S. Embassy chargé d’affaires over German magazine Der Spiegel’s claims that the United States and United Kingdom have been spying on Turkey for years. 

"For the reasons that the United States' name was mentioned, and such
claims were made ... the charge d'affaires has been called to the
foreign ministry and information has been received from him," Deputy
Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told reporters after the first meeting of the new Cabinet on Sept. 1, referring to
Washington's most senior diplomat in Ankara.

“We asked for an explanation,” Arınç said, without further elaborating.

German magazine Der Spiegel’s claimed on Aug. 31 that both the U.S.’s NSA and the
GCHQ of the U.K. have been spying on Turkey for years. The story was a
follow-up to another claim that Germany’s intelligence agency had also
been eavesdropping on Turkey for years.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a written statement urging Washington to give a "satisfactory explanation."

“The U.S. is expected to investigate the said claims and, if they are true, to end its activities directed against our state institutions and foreign missions,” the statement said, adding that Ankara's expectations were conveyed to the U.S. envoy during the meeting.

“In the case of the claims being accurate, it is obvious these kinds of activities can in no way be accepted and do not comply with friendship and alliance relations,” the statement added.

Ankara did not summon the British envoy, since the Foreign Ministry asked for an explanation from the ambassador last year regarding allegations of eavesdropping on Minister Mehmet...