Senior US diplomat summoned by Turkey over espionage

The Turkish foreign ministry has summoned the most senior U.S. diplomat in the country for clarification of a report about American and British spying in Turkey.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said the U.S. charge d'affaires and Turkish officials had discussed the report Monday. German magazine Der Spiegel and the online magazine The Intercept said that documents provided by former U.S. National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden show that Turkey was a high priority intelligence target for U.S. and British intelligence services.

According to Turkish news wires, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan downplayed the importance of the report, saying that all major countries spied on each other. An earlier report that Germany's main intelligence agency had also targeted Ankara drew a more angry response from the Turkish government.