WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Thursday assertions by Turkish officials that the United States was involved in a failed 2016 coup in Turkey were “wholly false.”

In a statement issued after Turkey’s interior minister accused the United States of being behind the coup, the State Department said such “remarks and other unfounded and irresponsible claims of U.S. responsibility for events in Turkey are inconsistent with Turkey’s status as a NATO Ally and strategic partner of the United States.”