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US suspends handling of visas in Turkey after arrest of consulate staffer
US-Turkey row escalates with tit-for-tat travel and visa restrictions
(about 9 hours later)
The United States has indefinitely suspended handling all regular visa applications in Turkey, escalating a row after a member of staff at the US consulate in Istanbul was arrested.
The US and Turkey have imposed travel restrictions on each other in an escalating diplomatic spat that highlights worsening relations between Ankara and its western allies.
The US embassy in the capital Ankara said in a statement that until further notice none of its missions in Turkey would issue non-immigrant visas.
Late on Sunday, Washington said it was suspending the processing of all non-immigrant visas in Turkey due to “recent events” that “have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of the government of Turkey to the security of US mission facilities and personnel”.
“Recent events” had forced the US government to reassess Turkey’s “commitment” to the security of US mission services and personnel in the country, it said.
Ankara responded in the early hours of Monday with an identical statement, imposing tit-for-tat measures and suspending the processing of visas in its embassy and consulate in the US. It also shut down its online visa system for US citizens. The Turkish move effectively closed its borders to American visitors residing in the US or elsewhere, unless they can obtain visas from diplomatic missions outside their home country.
In order to minimise the number of visitors while the assessment was carried out, “effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey”, it said.
A rift between Turkey and the west has broadened in the aftermath of last year’s coup attempt, divergence over the war in Syria, and a crackdown against alleged putsch collaborators in the ensuing months.
Non-immigrant visas are issued to all those travelling to the United States for tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work or study. Immigrant visa services are only for those seeking to live in the US permanently.
The US government’s restrictions appeared to be linked to the arrest last week of a local consulate employee in Istanbul over alleged links to the movement of Fethullah Gülen. Gülen, an exiled preacher based in Pennsylvania, is widely believed in Turkey to have orchestrated last year’s coup attempt. Ankara has long demanded the cleric’s extradition. The US embassy said it was “deeply disturbed” by the arrest, and said the allegations were “wholly without merit”.
Beyond mentioning “recent events”, the statement made no explicit mention of the the arrest by Turkish authorities of a local Turkish staffer working at the US consulate in Istanbul.
Washington once saw Turkey as key to battling Islamic State militants and other terror groups in Syria and Iraq, but relations between the two allies declined under Barack Obama.
The employee was remanded in custody by an Istanbul court late on Wednesday over accusations of links to the group of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for last year’s failed coup against president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ankara objected to the former president’s lack of willingness to intervene forcefully in the war in Syria against the forces of Bashar al-Assad, as well as Washington’s support for Kurdish militias fighting against Islamic State in Syria. Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG) an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), a separatist insurgency and designated terrorist group.
The staffer has been charged with espionage and seeking to overthrow the Turkish government.
Turkey was also angered by how slow the US was to condemn last year’s coup attempt and unwillingness to extradite Gülen. Turkish security personnel were indicted earlier this year for attacking demonstrators during a visit by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to the US. Observers had expected relations to improve under the administration of Donald Trump, who has long expressed admiration for Erdoğan, a strongman leader with a reputation in the west for not tolerating critics. However, a US initiative to directly arm the Kurdish militias fighting in Syria caused diplomatic relations to deteriorate further.
The US embassy said on Thursday that it was “deeply disturbed” over the arrest and rejected the allegations against the employee as “wholly without merit”.
The Turkish lira plummeted to its lowest value in months over the latest crisis, which will limit the influx of tourists to the country after a slow recovery.
The statement also condemned leaks in the local press which it said came from Turkish government sources that were “seemingly aimed at trying the employee in the media rather than a court of law.”
But Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has defended the arrest, saying “there must be serious evidence” and pointing to a phone call made from the Istanbul consulate to a key suspect on the night of the coup.
That latest arrest also came after a Turkish employee at the US consulate in the southern city of Adana was arrested in March on charges of supporting the Kurdistan Workers party.
The Adana region is home to the US airbase at Turkey’s Incirlik military airport, where dozens of American nuclear missiles are stored and which serves as a key hub for operations in Syria.
The suspension in accepting applications for and issuing all normal visas is extremely unusual. US missions in Moscow in August suspended the issuing of non-immigrant visas for nine days and then scaled back operations.
There has yet to be an official reaction from Ankara but the pro-government Yeni Safak daily described it as “a scandalous decision from the United States”.
The issue has added yet another bone of contention in the increasingly troubled relationship between Washington and Ankara.
Turkish officials had expressed hope of a new page in Ankara-Washington relations under Donald Trump.
Turkey has pressed Washington for the extradition of the Pennsylvania-based Gulen, who denies any link to the coup bid.
The lack of movement on the issue has further strained ties already fraying over Washington’s support for a Syrian Kurdish militia Ankara deems to be a terror group.
Meanwhile, members of Erdogan’s security detail were indicted by US authorities after clashes with protesters during an official visit this year, infuriating the Turkish president.
American pastor Andrew Brunson, who ran a church in the western city of Izmir, has been held by Turkish authorities since October 2016 on charges of being a member of Gulen’s group.
Erdogan suggested last month that Turkey could release him in exchange for Gulen but Washington showed little interest in the proposal.
