WASHINGTON – The United States and Turkey on Thursday turned the page on a
visa crisis triggered nearly three months ago by the arrest of a staff
member at the American mission in Ankara, but relations between the NATO
allies remain tense.
The two sides announced the resumption of full visa services for each
other’s citizens, but their statements revealed lingering misgivings
between the countries, who are partners in the fight against the Islamic
State (IS) group.
Washington said it had won assurances from Ankara that no further legal
proceedings would be launched against its staff, though the Turkish embassy
in the US capital insisted “no such assurances have been given.”
Nevertheless, the State Department said it was “confident that the security
posture has improved sufficiently to allow for the full resumption of visa
services in Turkey.”
Washington said the measure was effective immediately.
“Within the framework of the principle of reciprocity, the restrictions
placed from our side on the visa regime for US citizens are being lifted
simultaneously,” said the Turkish mission in Washington.
The US decision to stop handing out visas was implemented from October and
was followed by a tit-for-tat move by Turkey to stop giving visas to
Americans.
In November, the US said it had resumed limited visa services, a move
matched by Turkey’s missions in the US.
But the services were so limited that the first interview appointments for
Turks seeking most types of US visas were only available from January 2019,
causing uproar on social media.
The crisis was triggered when US consulate staffer Metin Topuz was formally
charged with espionage and seeking to overthrow the Turkish government —
accusations the US embassy in Ankara has said are “wholly without merit.”
Topuz, a Turkish citizen, is accused of links to a group led by
Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara suspects of
ordering last year’s failed coup in Turkey.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, denies any
involvement in the attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
US authorities then sought assurances from top Turkish officials that no
further staff members would be placed under investigation.
– ‘Serious concerns’ –
Washington says it is now confident that there are “no additional local
employees of our mission in Turkey under investigation” and that “local
staff of our embassy and consulates will not be detained or arrested for
performing their official duties,” a State Department official said.
Turkish authorities will also inform the US “in advance” if they intend to
arrest any local staff member in the future.
But US authorities added: “We continue to have serious concerns about the
existing allegations against arrested local employees of our mission in
Turkey.”
Reflecting the language of the American statement, Ankara said it continued
to have “serious concerns” regarding cases involving Turkish citizens in
the United States.
In March, a Turkish employee at the US consulate in the southern city of
Adana was arrested on charges of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK).
And US authorities also expressed concern about other US citizens arrested
in Turkey, including American pastor Andrew Brunson, who ran a church in
the western city of Izmir.
Brunson has been held by Turkish authorities since October 2016 on charges
of being a member of Gulen’s group.
“US officials will continue to engage with their Turkish counterparts to
seek a satisfactory resolution of these cases,” the State Department
official said.
Turkey is a key player in the anti-IS fight, and the US relies heavily on
the airbase at Incirlik in the country’s south to launch air strikes
against the militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
But relations between the NATO allies have frayed over American support for
Syrian Kurdish militia seen by Turkey as “terrorists” and the US failure to
extradite Gulen.