Erdogan’s Escalating Feud With U.S. Hammers Turkish Markets …
Markets in Istanbul tumbled after the U.S. and Turkey stopped issuing visas for each others citizens in a spat related to last years failed coup againstPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan, deepening divisions between NATO members already at odds over the war in Syria.
The Trump administration halted visa services for Turks on Sunday, citing the Oct. 4 arrest of a Turkish citizen employed at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul for alleged involvement in the July 2016 putsch attempt. Erdogans government responded in kind within hours, repeating verbatim much of the U.S.statement.
The implementation of a such a decision by the U.S. ambassador in Ankara is very saddening, Erdogan said at a televised press conference in Kiev, Ukraine. He said that he ordered Turkeys foreign ministry to reciprocate the move. Turkey is a state of law, not a tribal state, he said.
Relations have soured since the foiled coup, which Erdogan blames on a self-exiled cleric based in the U.S., Fethullah Gulen. The U.S. has refused Turkeys request to extradite Gulen, citing lack of evidence. Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul on Monday rejected the U.S. ambassadors request for a meeting as prosecutors invited another consulate worker in to testify, AHaber TV reported. The pro-government channel said the employees wife and child had been detained, but it didnt specify the workers whereabouts.
Read more: How Turkey-U.S. ties frayed-- a QuickTake Q&A
The U.S. Embassys press service in the capital Ankara declined to comment.
Problems that have been accumulating between the countries for a long time are starting to snowball, Tuncay Ozilhan, head of the advisory council of Tusiad, one of of Turkeys most influential business lobbies, said by phone.
The lira dropped 3.2 percent to 3.7334 against the dollar as of 5:23 p.m. in Istanbul, after plunging as much as 6.6 percent. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index of stocks declined 3 percent.
Both sides said recent events had forced them to reassess the commitment of the other to the security of diplomatic facilities and personnel. Only two weeks ago, President Donald Trump praised Erdogan when they met at the United Nations in New York, saying that hes becoming a friend of mine and that frankly, hes getting high marks.
The U.S. last week called the charges against the worker wholly without merit, saying it was deeply disturbed by the arrest and by leaks from Turkish government sources seemingly aimed at trying the employee in the media rather than a court of law. Turkey responded by saying the arrested citizen wasnt part of the regular diplomatic corps but a local employee.
If this fight with the U.S. continues, country risk wont decline regardless of policies in other areas, said Ozlem Derici, founder of Spinn Consulting in Istanbul.
The visa spat comes as Turkish troops are preparing to deepen their involvement next door in Syria, where Turkey is planning a joint mission with Russia and Iran to create a combat-free zone in the Idlib province. Erdogan vowed Sunday to prevent stateless Kurds, whove been battling Turkish forces for decades, from creating a terror corridor from Iraq to the Mediterranean.
Turkey has also rebuffed the U.S. over charges that a former economy minister and a state bank conspired to help Iran launder hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system, as well as its decision to buy a Russian missile-defense system that isnt compatible with NATO.
I would expect that there will be some sort of de-escalation at the leadership level -- Trump and Erdogan will speak or meet, said Murat Yurtbilir, who specializes in Turkish affairs at the Australian National University. But the underlying problems wont go away: the Gulen issue, Turkeys slow switch toward Russias policy in Syria, and the economy.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a briefing on Sept. 27 that the U.S. had received several requests for Gulens extradition, but that it had been a while since officials talked about the issue.
Erdogan in July accused foreigners of attempting to break Turkey apart and vowed to crush agents acting against his country. He gained sweeping powers in April after a tight referendum that critics said was fraudulent. A Council of Europe agency has since put Turkey on its watchlist, saying crackdowns on opponents have compromised human rights and the rule of law.
In recent months, Erdogan has increased coordination with Russia and Iran amid deepening tensions with the U.S., exacerbated by Washingtons decision to deliver arms to Kurdish groups that Turkey views as terrorists.
More than 37,000 U.S. citizens traveled to Turkey in 2016, about 1.7 percent of the total and down from 88,301 in 2015, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.Turkey has been attracting fewer visitors since 2014 amid concerns about terrorism, regional instability and the failed coup. The U.S. tourist office doesnt break out the number of Turkish visitors on its website.
The Trump administrations visa ban puts Turkey in the same boat as Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, which have all had U.S. travel restrictions imposed over terrorism concerns.
"Turkey, which has been in the western camp since the 1940s, is lumped together with these countries?" said Yurtbilir. "This is the lowest level in Turkish-U.S. relations."
With assistance by Garfield Clinton Reynolds, Ros Krasny, Bernie Kohn, David Tweed, Kerim Karakaya, Taylan Bilgic, Daniel Ten Kate, and Ruth Pollard
See the original post:
Erdogan's Escalating Feud With U.S. Hammers Turkish Markets ...