Erdogan denies Turkey informed of US exile offer for Maduro prior to capture
While denying knowledge of a US exile plan for Nicolas Maduro, the Turkish president has been reluctant to directly criticize Washington over the Venezuelan leader’s capture.
ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Ankara had not been informed of any US offer for Nicolas Maduro to go into exile in Turkey, while maintaining his reluctance to directly criticize Washington over the Venezuelan leader’s recent capture.
Erdogan’s comments came after US Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of the US president, suggested Washington had given Maduro an option to leave Venezuela for Turkey before his controversial capture by US personnel at his presidential palace in Caracas on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, flanked by US President Donald Trump, Graham said Tuesday that Maduro "could be in Turkey today, but he’s in New York,” Graham said. “Maduro has nobody to blame but himself. [Trump] gave him a way out.”
“There is no such thing,” Erdogan told reporters at the parliament in response to questions over Graham’s remarks. “There has been no information conveyed to us on this matter.”
