Turkish and US missions mutually restrict services to reconsider each other’s commitment
The United States and Turkey has suspended their visa issuing services in each other’s countries after diplomatic tension emerged last week.
The deepening diplomatic row sparked after U.S. mission employee in Istanbul was arrested on charges of having links to a cleric blamed for last year’s failed coup.
As per USA embassy in turkey recent events forced the US government to reassess Turkey’s commitment” to the security of US mission services and personnel in the country.
US embassy there were deeply disturbed over the arrest and rejected the allegations against the employee as wholly without merit. USA minimizes the number of visitors immediately and have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey.
After US suspended visa services Turkey reacted and suspended all visa services for Americans in the US, saying the measures also apply to visas issued online and at the border.
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.
Turkey has expressed deep frustration over its so far fruitless calls for the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen over a failed July 2016 coup, in which more than 240 people were killed.
Diplomatic relations between Turkey and the United States have particularly deteriorated since May, when Turkish security officials were involved in street fighting with protesters during a visit to Washington and were subsequently indicted.
Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. But Ankara’s ties with Washington are strained over support provided by the United States to the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG.
In an apparent attempt to mock the US announcement Turkish embassy in Washington followed suit and made virtually the same statement, only replacing the country names.