Turkish, US officials decide to meet to resolve dispute : Bozdağ

Turkey and the U.S. have agreed to work to resolve the diplomatic row between the countries, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said Thursday.

“A decision between the two countries has been made for representatives to come together and work on this issue,” he said in an interview on broadcaster Haber Turk.

The U.S. Embassy on Sunday announced the suspension of some visas for Turkish nationals following the arrest of a Turkish employee at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Ankara.

Metin Topuz, a long-standing consulate employee, was arrested last week over alleged ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, which is said to have orchestrated last year’s attempted coup in Turkey.

Bozdağ said Turkish and U.S. diplomats would meet in the next few days.

Referring to Topuz, he added: “The testimony of a U.S. local staff member, a Turkish citizen, was filed to both the police and the prosecution office in the presence of a lawyer.

“His testimony at the criminal peace court was also filed in presence of a lawyer. It’s impossible for these to be done without a lawyer.”