Arrest call worsens Us-turkey visa row

A DIPLOMATIC row between the US and Turkey deepened yesterday as Turkish authorities issued an arrest warrant for a second US consulate worker.

The warrant was issued scarcely 24 hours after the US announced it would suspend all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic outposts in Turkey. Ankara responded with a similar statement suspending nonimmigrant visas at its Washington embassy.

The US decision to suspend visas came less than a week after a US consulate worker in Istanbul was detained by the Turkish security services on suspicion of links to Fethullah Gulen, the Us-based cleric Ankara blames for last year’s attempted coup.

Yesterday, authorities summoned a second worker to testify over his relatives’ alleged links to last year’s failed coup attempt, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

The Turkish foreign ministry has urged the US to lift the suspension, saying it caused “unnecessary tensions”.

John Bass, US ambassador to Ankara, said American officials had been given no reason for the arrest or told of any evidence against the detained staff member.

“This arrest has raised questions about whether the goal of some officials is to disrupt the long-standing co-operation between Turkey and the United States,” he said.