ANKARA — In a clear snub to the United States, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday said he would go ahead with a scheduled trip to the Gaza Strip in May.



“There is no question of delaying this trip,” Erdogan said on Turkish television.



Washington had urged Erdogan to postpone visiting the impoverished Palestinian territory, saying it would be a “distraction” from US efforts to revive the moribund Middle East peace process.



Erdogan stressed the exact date for his Gaza visit would be set after he visits US President Barack Obama at the White House on May 16.



During a trip to Istanbul over the weekend, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the trip would be “better delayed”, urging Erdogan to wait for the “right circumstances”.



“It was our feeling in a constructive way that we thought that the timing of it is really critical with respect to the peace process that we’re trying to get off the ground,” emphasized Kerry.



Erdogan hit back at Kerry’s comments in no uncertain terms, saying: “We wish he had not said that.”



On Monday, Ankara expressed its dismay with Kerry’s comments.



Kerry’s statement “is not correct diplomatically,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters.



“It is up to our government to decide where our prime minister or a Turkish official will go and when.”



Erdogan’s trip would take place at a critical period for Turkish-Israeli relations, frozen after the 2010 killing by Israeli marines of nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship.



In March, President Obama brokered a first step in reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, which cut its once extensive ties with the Jewish state after the incident.



Persuaded by Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized last month and an Israeli delegation traveled to Ankara  Monday to discuss compensation to the victims’ families. — Reuters