Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.
The envoys, including the US, French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017, despite not having been convicted of a crime.
Describing the statement as an “impudence,” Erdogan said he had ordered the ambassadors be declared undesirable.
Photo: AFP / Anadolu Culture Center
The diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand, were summoned to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.
Kavala, 64, was acquitted last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt.
International observers and human rights groups have repeatedly called for the release of Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who has been jailed since 2016.
They say their imprisonment is based on political considerations.
After Erdogan’s order was reported, the US State Department said in a statement that “we are aware of these reports and are seeking clarity from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said Erdogan was “rapidly dragging the country to a precipice.”
Sinan Ulgen, chairman of Istanbul-based think tank Edam, said Erdogan’s timing was incongruous, as Turkey was seeking to recalibrate its foreign policy away from episodes of tension in recent years.
“I still hope that Ankara will not go through with this,” he wrote on Twitter.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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