Turkish Justice Ministry cancels US visit amid visa dispute
Turkey’s Justice Ministry says it has decided against a plan to send a delegation to the United States over an ongoing diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies over issuing visas.
“Due to the recent visa crisis between the two countries, the visit was canceled by our Ministry,” it said in a statement.
Media outlets had earlier said that the delegation, which was supposed to visit the US for research purposes, had been denied visas, but the ministry said there had been no visa applications in the first place.
The diplomatic row first broke out in May, after Turkey arrested a US consular staffer in the southern city of Adana.
Tensions intensified earlier this month after Ankara made a similar arrest in Istanbul, prompting the US to stop issuing visas at its Turkey-based diplomatic missions, citing security concerns for its staff.
In response, Turkey has also frozen “all visa services” for Americans in the US.
Ankara accused both the detainees of having links with US-based opposition cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom it blames for the 2016 coup attempt against the Turkish government.
Turkey's police, meanwhile, want to question another staffer with the American diplomatic mission in Istanbul. They arrested and later released his wife and daughter over alleged ties to Gulen.
Turkey is outraged by the US refusal to extradite Gulen. Washington says there should be enough evidence supporting the claim that the cleric was involved in the abortive military coup.
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