A Turkish minister has accused Sarah Ferguson, Britain's Duchess of York, of smearing Turkey's image on a TV show about orphanages in Turkey to be aired on a British television channel later this week, the Associated Press reported.
Nimet Cubukcu, the minister in charge of women and family affairs, said Monday the television program is timed to air at around the same time as the European Union is scheduled to release a report on Turkey's progress toward membership.
Cubukcu said, "It is obvious that in this incidence, Sarah Ferguson is trying to leave Turkey in the midst of a smudge campaign."
Britain's Press Association said Ferguson went undercover to visit two state-run orphanages in Ankara and Istanbul, to expose conditions there.