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Turkey says US account of Trump-Erdogan call not 'accurate'

A telephone conversation between the Turkish and US leaders has turned into a "he said-he said" affair as the gulf widens between the NATO allies over Syria.

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US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, June 27, 2017. — REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A telephone call between the presidents of the United States and Turkey produced conflicting accounts of the conversation about Turkey’s military foray into Syria in pursuit of Kurdish rebels, underscoring the deep fissures dividing the NATO partners.

Turkey opened a new front in the seven-year war in Syria last week, using jets, ground forces and proxy fighters from the Free Syrian Army to pound the US-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the northwestern province of Afrin, a relatively stable area held by Syrian Kurds.

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