Turkey has issued a travel warning urging its citizens to reconsider their travel plans to the United States, citing the risk of terror attacks and arbitrary detentions. The move follows a US State Department advisory on Wednesday which urged Americans to reconsider visiting Turkey due to security concerns.
A statement by the Turkish foreign ministry — using almost identical language to the original US advisory — warns of an increase in terrorism and “risk of arbitry detention” in America.
Relations between the two NATO allies have become increasingly strained over a number of issues, including Turkey’s detention of two Turkish employees of US diplomatic missions in the country.
Washington suspended visa services for Turkish citizens after Istanbul consulate staffer Metin Topuz was arrested in October over suspected links to a cleric blamed for Turkey’s 2016 failed coup.
In a tit-for-tat move at the time, Turkey responded by suspending visa services.
That crisis was resolved in December when the US said it had won assurances from Ankara that no further legal proceedings would be launched against its staff, though Turkey insisted it had given no assurances.
Meanwhile, Turkey has since March 2017 been holding Hamza Ulucay, a veteran translator from the US consulate in Adana, on charges of links to Kurdish militants.
The two countries have also fallen out over the US’s refusal to extradite US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey holds responsible for the 2016 coup attempt, and US military support for Kurdish rebels in Syria which Ankara considers a terrorist group.
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