An article from Washington Examiner

State Department: Turkish leaders not protecting US embassy

The U.S. government publicly accused the Turkish government of not acting to protecting to protect the American embassy.

By Sean Higgins on Washington Examiner

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, waves to supporters after he delivered a speech at his ruling political party's conference in Afyonkarahisar province in western Turkey, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017.

The U.S. government publicly accused the Turkish government of not acting to protecting to protect the American embassy.

The statement followed the arrest of an employee of the US consulate in Istanbul on charges the US called "without merit." The US shut down a wide swath of services between the countries in response to the Turkish government's actions.

"Recent events have forced the United States Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of Turkey to the security of U.S. Mission facilities and personnel. In order to minimize the number of visitors to our Embassy and Consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey," the U.S. Embassy in Turkey said in a statement Sunday.

Non-immigrant visa categories cover tourism, media, spouses and business-related activities.

Turkish media reported the arrestee, identified as Metin Topuz, was picked up on charges of espionage and terrorism related to "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and Turkey's government."

In a statement last week the U.S. Mission said, "The United States government is deeply disturbed by the arrest of a locally-employed staff member and by leaks from Turkish government sources seemingly aimed at trying the employee in the media rather than a court of law. We believe these allegations to be wholly without merit."

Posted at http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/state-department-turkish-leaders-not-protecting-us-embassy/article/2636893

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