Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accused the US ambassador of trying to harm the country after a number of Western nations temporarily closed their consulates in Istanbul over security concerns.
(Bloomberg) — Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accused the US ambassador of trying to harm the country after a number of Western nations temporarily closed their consulates in Istanbul over security concerns.
“I am telling the US ambassador from here, I know which journalists you made write articles, keep your dirty hands off Turkey,” Soylu said in Antalya on Friday. “I clearly know what you have done, what steps you have taken, how you want to stir up Turkey.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned the ambassadors of nine countries including the US over a series of terror-threat notices coming from embassies. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rejected the claims, saying no intelligence had been shared about the source of the alleged threat.
“The U.S. government cautions its citizens of possible imminent retaliatory attacks by terrorists against churches, synagogues, and diplomatic missions in Istanbul or other places Westerners frequent,” the embassy said Jan. 30, without being more specific.
Soylu, who is known for his anti-Western stance, also described travel warnings as part of a plot to prevent a rebound in Turkey’s tourism industry after the Covid-19 pandemic.
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