ISTANBUL (AP) — For adversaries in a long-distance spat, they made an odd couple. Turkey's leader, a brash visionary who propelled his country to regional prominence, tangled with an American author who dwells on the existential in his work.

The skirmish began when Paul Auster told a Turkish newspaper that he would not visit Turkey because it has jailed dozens of journalists, drawing a caustic retort from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Who cares?" was the essence.

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