U.S. 'will continue to engage' with Turkey

"The Biden administration seeks cooperation with Turkey on common priorities and, as with any NATO ally, we will continue to engage in dialogue to address any disagreements," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. "We believe the best way forward is through cooperation on issues of mutual interests."

President Tayyip Erdogan, who said over the weekend he had ordered the envoys to be declared "persona non grata" for seeking the release of a jailed philanthropist, told a news conference they had stepped back and would be more careful.

"Our goal is never to create crises, it is to protect the rights, laws, honor and sovereignty of our country," Erdogan said in a televised address after chairing a Cabinet meeting.

"With a new statement made by the same embassies today, a step back was taken from this slander against our country and our nation. I believe these ambassadors ... will be more careful in their statements regarding Turkey's sovereign rights."

The ambassadors, including the United States envoy, had called on authorities last week to free Osman Kavala, a philanthropist detained for four years on charges of financing protests and involvement in an attempted coup. He denies the charges.