Joe Biden
Joe BidenReuters

U.S. Vice President Biden on Saturday apologized to Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for saying the Turkish leader admitted his country made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria, Fox News reports.

Biden spoke directly to Erdogan to “clarify” comments made on Thursday at Harvard University and apologized for “any implication" that Turkey or other allies had intentionally supplied or helped in the growth of the “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS) or other extremists groups in Syria, the White House said.

Erdogan denied making such remarks and said Biden would become "history to me" over the comments at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, unless he fixed the situation.

The speech was an especially bad event for the vice president who has a history of gaffes and unscripted, problem-causing remarks, noted Fox News.

Biden on Thursday also described Erdogan as "an old friend" but suggested he said privately, “You were right. We let too many people through.”

Turkey is now trying to seal its border.

Erdogan also said, "I have never said to (Biden) that we had made a mistake, never. If he did say this…, then he has to apologize to us.

"Foreign fighters have never entered Syria from our country. They may come to our country as tourists and cross into Syria, but no one can say that they cross in with their arms," said Erdogan, according to Fox News

He said Turkey had prevented 6,000 suspected jihadists from entering the country and deported another 1,000.

This past week, Turkey’s parliament voted to authorize military intervention in Syria and Iraq, resulting in a warning from Iran against Ankara doing anything that might aggravate tensions in the region.

Erdogan has said that his country cannot stay out of the international coalition fighting the “Islamic State” (IS or ISIS), making the comments as IS terrorists advanced in Syria to just a few kilometers from Turkey, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing across the border.