Turkey urges US to reverse visa suspension

Turkey's Justice Minister says he hopes the United States will review its suspension of visa services to Turkish citizens after the arrest of a US consulate employee last week, saying the case was a matter for Turkey's judiciary.

The United States has condemned the charges against its Turkish employee as baseless and said on Sunday it was halting all non-immigrant visa services in Turkey while it reassessed Turkey's commitment to the security of its missions and staff.

Within hours Turkey announced it was taking the same measures against U.S. citizens.

The moves sent Turkish markets tumbling, with the lira falling 2.4 per cent and the main share index falling as much as 4.7 per cent.

"If this is an issue relating to security, then the necessary steps will be taken, but if it's an issue regarding the arrest of the consulate employee, then this is a decision



the Turkish judiciary has given," Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul told A Haber television on Monday.

"Trying a Turkish citizen for a crime committed in Turkey is our right. I hope the US will revise its decision in this light."

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.

US-Turkish tensions have risen over US military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, considered by Ankara to be an extension of the banned PKK, which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey.

Turkey has also pressed, so far in vain, for the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen over the July 2016 putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed. Gulen denies any involvement.