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Last week, the U.S. mission employee in Istanbul was arrested on
charges of links to a cleric blamed for last year's failed coup,
a move condemned by Washington as baseless.
"Recent events have forced the United States government to
reassess the commitment of government of Turkey to the security
of U.S. mission and personnel," the mission in Ankara said in a
statement.
"In order to minimise 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 Turkish embassy in Washington followed suit, and made
virtually the same statement, only replacing the country names.
The state-run Anadolu news agency identified the consulate
employee as a male Turkish citizen and said he was arrested late
on Wednesday on charges of espionage and attempts to damage the
constitutional order and Turkey's government.
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. Gulen denies any involvement.
Thousands of people have been detained in a crackdown since the
failed coup, including American Christian missionary Andrew
Brunson, who ran a small church in Izmir on Turkey's western
coast. The United States has said that Brunson has been
wrongfully imprisoned and has called for him to be released.
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.
In September, Turkey also protested the U.S. indictment of a
former Turkish economy minister for conspiring to violate U.S.
Iran sanctions, saying the charges amounted to a "coup attempt"
through American courts.
Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and
is part of the U.S.-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.
Viewed by Turkey as the Syrian extension of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the YPG has been among the most
effective partners on the ground in the U.S.-led fight against
the Islamic State.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart
in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Richard Chang)
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