On Sunday, the US announced the placement of a temporary halt on all US visa applications for non-immigrants from Turkey, in a decision that Turkey was quick to mirror. The US Embassy in Ankara released a statement saying that recent events have meant the US government has to reconsider the Turkish government’s dedication to the security of US Mission personnel and facilities.
The reasons behind the decision for the reassessment of Turkey’s commitment were not clarified in the statement, and there was no sign of the intended length of the suspension. It simply stated that all non-immigrant US visa services have been immediately suspended at the country’s diplomatic facilities in Turkey to reduce the number of visitors to US Consulates and the Embassy during the assessment.
Turkey retaliated within hours, announcing that it was also suspending its visa services in the US, with language echoing the statement and justification for the halt made in the US statement. 50,000 people have recently been imprisoned by the Turkish government, with 100 media outlets closed down, and tens of thousands of individuals dismissed from government jobs in the wake of an attempted coup last year against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Sunday, 11 rights activists were arrested, accused of being part of the conspiracy. The arrests have been condemned by the German government and Amnesty International, with the director of Amnesty International Europe, John Dalhuisen, calling the indictments outrageous and a damning indictment of the flawed justice system in Turkey.