U.S. missions in Ankara and Istanbul announced that they have resumed limited processing of all non-immigrant visa services, with priority to special cases.
U.S embassies and consulate said in the official website, “We have received initial high-level assurances from the Government of Turkey that there are no additional local employees of our Mission in Turkey under investigation. We have also received initial assurances from the Government of Turkey that our local staff will not be detained or arrested for performing their official duties and that Turkish authorities will inform the U.S. government in advance if the Government of Turkey intends to detain or arrest a member of our local staff in the future.
Based on these preliminary assurances, we believe the security posture has improved sufficiently to allow for the resumption of limited visa services in Turkey. We continue to have serious concerns about the existing cases against arrested local employees of our Mission in Turkey. We are also concerned about the cases against U.S. citizens who have been arrested under the state of emergency. U.S. officials will continue to engage with their Turkish counterparts to seek a satisfactory resolution of these cases.”
Metin Topuz, a long-standing consulate employee, was arrested over alleged ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, the group behind last year’s defeated coup attempt in Turkey.
Following the U.S. resumption, Turkish missions in the U.S. also resumed limited visa services for U.S. citizens.
