US Department of State: We Hope Turkey is not Trying to Create Some Distance

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United States (US) Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert has said that the US hope the recent tension defuses.

"We would hope for some calm and we would hope that we can have a dialogue with the government of Turkey, but we also have some very real concerns about whether or not Turkey intends to cooperate with the United States and -- in terms of its investigations," she said.

“The figures who were interrogated or arrested are our local staff in Turkey and they work with Turkish security personnel. We hope that Turkey, a NATO member, is not trying to create distance with the US”.

Meeting between the ministers

Nauert stated that ministers Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Rex Tillerson addressed the situation of Priest Andrew Brunson being detained on remand and two US mission staff in the over the phone call they made yesterday (October 12).

Stating that they expect Turkish government to keep its promise that the detainees be allowed to talk to their families and lawyers, Nauert added that they want to see the evidence and documents related to the charges pressed against the detainees.

What happened?

US Embassy in Ankara announced in the evening hours on October 8 that all visa services had been suspended in Turkey.
In its statement, the embassy said that "recent events have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of government of Turkey to the security of US mission and personnel".

A few hours later, Turkey responded to US suspending the visa services in Turkey issuing a similar statement to the US and declared that it suspended all visa and e-visa services. (YY/TK)