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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's reported comment equating Zionism with crimes against humanity is "particularly offensive" and has a "corrosive effect" on U.S.-Turkish relations, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

"This was particularly offensive, frankly, to call Zionism a crime against humanity," the senior U.S. official told reporters as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Ankara. "It does have a corrosive effect (on relations)."

"I am sure the secretary will be very clear about how dismayed we were to hear it," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Alison Williams)