Pompeo Photo:AFP

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's planned visit to Turkey got off to a rocky start Wednesday when Ankara criticized his decision to raise the issue of religious freedom.

Pompeo will be in Istanbul on November 16 and 17 as part of a seven-nation tour that also takes him to France and parts of the Middle East.

The Istanbul leg is notable for an absence of scheduled meetings with any top Turkish officials. 

His only planned talks are with Bartholomew I of Constantinople - the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox world.

The US State Department said Pompeo wanted to "discuss religious issues in Turkey and the region and to promote our strong stance on religious freedom around the world."

The meeting with the patriarch will come four months after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan converted Istanbul's emblematic Hagia Sophia monument into a mosque.

Pompeo publicly criticized the conversion in July. 

The Turkish foreign ministry called Pompeo's chosen subject matter for the visit "completely irrelevant."

Relations between Washington and its strategic NATO ally have run hot and cold during Donald Trump's presidency.

Erdogan has cultivated close personal relations with Trump and been able to call him up directly to try to influence specific policy decisions.

But the two sides have also sparred over US support for a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey views as a security threat.

AFP