WASHINGTON ��The U.S. blamed Turkey for instigating the latest dispute between the two countries and said a resolution will depend on how quickly officials explain why two Turkish employees at American outposts in the country were detained this year.
While the White House and State Department stayed silent, John Bass, U.S. ambassador to Turkey, issued a video statement in which he said he hasn't been told why a Turkish employee working for the U.S. was arrested last week, the second such arrest this year. The embassy stopped issuing nonimmigrant visas in Turkey, a NATO ally and key trading partner, which prompted a retaliatory response by Turkish authorities.
"This was not a decision we took lightly and it's a decision we took with great sadness," Bass, a career diplomat, said in his video, posted on YouTube. "We hope it will not last long, but at this time we can't predict how long it will take to resolve this matter."
Bass's unusual statement _ and the lack of comment from Washington _ was the latest twist in a relationship that seemed likely to improve when President Donald Trump took office in January after deteriorating ties during the Obama administration. As recently as last month at the United Nations, Trump said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "becoming a friend of mine" and that "frankly, he's getting high marks."
Below the surface, however, relations frayed since a failed coup against Erdogan in July 2016. The Turkish government blames the attempted overthrow on Fethullah Gulen, an exiled cleric and former Erdogan ally who lives in Pennsylvania. The U.S. has refused to extradite Gulen, citing a lack of evidence against him.
The two countries have also clashed over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, which Turkey says are aligned with domestic terrorists, and American charges that a former Turkish economy minister and a state bank conspired to help Iran launder hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system.
Bass said the employee arrested last week works in an office "devoted to strengthening law enforcement cooperation with Turkish authorities and ensuring the security of Americans and Turkish citizens." He blamed Turkish officials he didn't name for leaking information about allegations against the employee to local media without providing that same information or any evidence to the employee's lawyer or U.S. authorities.
"This arrest has raised questions about whether the goal of some officials is to disrupt the long-standing cooperation between Turkey and the United States," said Bass, whom Trump has nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. "We don't know if these arrests are singular events, or if we should expect other Turkish staff members to be arrested for simply speaking to Turkish government officials or the wider Turkish public in the course of their duties."
Erdogan criticized the U.S. visa decision at a news conference Monday in Kiev, Ukraine. "The implementation of a such a decision by the U.S. ambassador in Ankara is very saddening. Turkey is a state of law, not a tribal state," he said.
In recent months, Erdogan has increased dealings with Russia and Iran. Turkey recently agreed to buy a Russian missile-defense system that isn't compatible with the systems of its NATO partners.
The latest developments took longtime observers of the U.S.-Turkey relationship by surprise. Continued efforts by Trump and Erdogan to forge an alliance may still keep the crisis from spinning out of control, said Blaise Misztal, a Turkey analyst who directs the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Program in Washington.
"There is a "real disconnect between the on-the-ground relationship and the relationship as it's described by leaders on both sides and that makes it hard to escalate too much further," Misztal said in an interview. "The danger is continued escalation beyond just visas to other aspects of the relationship, but I think that's unlikely because of the weird nature of this current flare-up."
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(Ozsoy reported from Istanbul and Hacaoglu reported from Ankara, Turkey.)
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