Turkey’s Justice Ministry today said it had cancelled a planned delegation visit to the United States due to the on-going visa crisis, denying local media reports that Washington had rejected to grant the delegation travel visas.
CNN Turk and other local media earlier reported that US authorities had declined to grant visas to members of the delegation.
“Due to the recent visa crisis between the two countries, the visit was cancelled by our Ministry,” the Justice Ministry said in a statement, adding that there were no visa applications to be rejected.
Washington this month stopped issuing visas at its missions in Turkey, citing safety concerns for its staff, following the arrest of two US consular staff, both Turkish nationals.
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In May, a translator at the consulate in the southern province of Adana was arrested and, more recently, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) worker was detained in Istanbul. Both are accused of links to last year’ failed coup. The US embassy has said the accusations are baseless.
Turkish police want to question a third worker based in Istanbul. His wife and daughter were detained over alleged links to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the abortive putsch. They were later released.
Gulen denies any involvement in the failed coup.