British minister denies claims of establishing refugee hubs in Turkey

British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace has denied reports by the British media that there are plans of establishing "processing hubs" hubs in Turkey for Afghans fleeing from the Taliban, while Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu criticized the Turkish opposition for giving credit to speculation and attacking the government.

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Ben Wallace reacted to a story by The Times late Aug. 23 on Twitter saying, "The story has no basis at all - total speculation! We said we would 'establish a series of processing hubs across the region.' You spin that to be a regional hub in Turkey!!!"

Wallace, in an opinion piece printed in the Mail on Sunday, suggested alternative options for sheltering the Afghan nationals fleeing their country in the regional countries. The British media argued that Turkey and Pakistan will be those countries where "processing hubs" will be established, a claim that was immediately denied by Turkey.

Çavuşoğlu, at a press conference with visiting Uruguay Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo, repeated that this news was utterly wrong and baseless. "The media reports are completely false, the statements mentioned in the report were not stated," Çavuşoğlu said.

"We have made a statement, and we told that we did not receive such a request from any country and that should such a request comes we will not accept it in any way," he stressed.

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The foreign minister slammed the Turkish opposition for trying to launch a smear campaign against the government and the Foreign Ministry through an incorrect piece of news, saying, "It's very sad to see the Turkish opposition in such a situation. The opposition accepted this as real and attacked our country and ministry. Plus, they issued statements against the...