The U.S. and Turkey Resume Bilateral Visa Services

After nearly three months of suspension of visa services between the U.S. and Turkey due to tensions in diplomatic relations, Ankara and Washington announced that the issues have been resolved and visa services will resume. On Thursday, following this announcement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that although visa issuance and consular relations are being resumed, some unresolved differences remain between the two sides. In October, the U.S. announced it would suspend most visa services to Turkey after one of its consulate staff in Istanbul was arrested. Previously, another American consular staff member had also been arrested and imprisoned in Turkey. The resumption of consular relations and visa services comes while two of the detained consular staff members from the U.S. embassy are still in prison in Turkey. The U.S. embassy in Turkey stated, 'We have been assured by the Turkish government that no local staff members of our consular section are under investigation or interrogation. We have also been assured that consular staff will not be detained for performing their official duties.' One of the detained consular staff members has been accused of having contact with Turkish civilian officials at one point. However, the Turkish embassy in Washington emphasized in a response that 'no assurances have been given by the Turkish government.' This embassy also criticized Washington for 'misleading' public opinion in Turkey and the U.S. The Turkish embassy's statement in Washington read: 'We must emphasize here that Turkey is a law-abiding state and has made no promises regarding judicial cases.' Several other American citizens, including a Protestant pastor, are still imprisoned in Turkey. On the other hand, in the U.S., a Turkish businessman is on trial for violating sanctions against Iran. Additionally, Turkey has requested the extradition of Fethullah Gülen, accused of involvement in last year's failed coup, from the U.S. Mr. Gülen has denied these accusations. The U.S. is also displeased that Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has purchased the S-400 missile defense system from Russia. Turkey is also dissatisfied with the U.S. arming Kurdish forces in Syria against the Islamic State or ISIS. According to reports from the German and French news agencies; E.A./K.T.