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STORY: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday during his first visit to a Muslim nation since taking office.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized a comment by Turkey's prime minister likening Zionism to crimes against humanity, as the disagreement cast a shadow over talks between the NATO allies.

Kerry met Turkish leaders for talks meant to focus on the civil war in neighboring Syria and bilateral interests from energy security and Iran's nuclear program to counter-terrorism.

But the comment by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan at a U.N. meeting in Vienna this week, condemned by his Israeli counterpart, the White House and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has clouded his visit.

Erdogan told the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations meeting in Vienna on Wednesday: "Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime