Turkish officials continued to push baseless allegations of the US being behind a false flag coup attempt in Turkey in 2016 despite the fact that US President Joe Biden, when he was serving as vice president, had called his Turkish counterpart to warn that the accusations were without merit.

According to Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who first raised the accusation that the US orchestrated the July 15, 2016 failed coup in a late-night phone interview with Turkish TV network Habertürk, when the situation was still unclear, Biden had a phone conversation with Binali Yıldırım, the Turkish prime minister of the time, to protest Soylu’s remarks.

Soylu revealed Biden’s phone conversation for the first time during an interview with a local TV station in Diyarbakır on October 13, 2022, saying Biden had to call the Turkish prime minister right after he accused the US of being behind the failed coup, bragging about how he managed to get the attention of the US. “I’m not accusing the US of this,” he said, adding, “I’m saying it like it is. The US was behind the July 15 [coup attempt].”

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Biden even paid a visit to Turkey on August 24, 2016 and met with Turkish officials including Yıldırım and said they had a frank conversation and was assured by them that constitutional principles and the rule of law would be adhered to in Turkey against the backdrop of the July 15 events. Yıldırım said the US condemnation of the coup attempt was important and brushed aside what he called “perceptions” among the Turkish public about the US, without mentioning Soylu’s remarks. He added that he and Biden were appearing before the press to correct those perceptions.

Read more: Nordic Monitor