Turkey, US lift tit-for-tat sanctions

The United States on Friday removed two top Turkish officials from the Global Magnitsky Act sanctions list, according to the Treasury Department website.

The United States had imposed sanctions on the officials, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, in August over Turkey's imprisonment of American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Brunson was released in October and has since returned to the United States.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it had lifted sanctions imposed against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions within the framework of reciprocity.

The ministry said in a statement released minutes after the U.S. move that the sanctions on Nielsen and Sessions, which include a travel ban into the country and freezing of assets in Turkey, had been lifted in response to the U.S. move.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump had discussed improving frosty relations between Washington and Ankara during a call between the two leaders, the Turkish presidency said on Thursday.