"It's very disappointing," Kilic said on Twitter.

"It goes against the spirit of the Olympic Movement. We have never been critical of the other cities and we are not about to start."

The row blew up when Inose was quoted in an interview he had given to the New York Times at the weekend in which he appeared to claim Istanbul, which is widely perceived as Tokyo's biggest rival to host the 2020 Games, is less developed and less equipped to host the event.

The newspaper's story "accused me of criticising a rival city but what I intended to convey was not accurately reflected in the article," Inose said in a statement.

"I have been to Turkey and Istanbul is one of my favourite cities," he added.

"I don't have the slightest idea of making critical comments on other bidding cities.

"It is extremely regrettable that [The New York Times] story deviates from the context of the interview."

Turkish Sports Minister Suat Kılıç fired off a series of tweets in response to comments about Istanbul's bid to host the 2020 Olympics by Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose

Tokyo 2020 admitted that Inose's comments could be taken in the wrong way.

"While the focus of the story took us by surprise, Tokyo 2020 regrettably acknowledge that the article may have been perceived to question Tokyo 2020's commitment to following our strong bidding principles," a spokesman told insidethegames.

Tokyo 2020 have been warned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over Inose's interview. 

"It is not entirely clear from the translation what exactly the Governor was trying to say, but we would remind all candidates of the rules pertaining to the bid process," the IOC said in a statement.

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