Turkish President Erdogan Blames U.S. Ambassador for Visa Row

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ISTANBUL — Turkish officials assailed the United States on Tuesday for its for Turkish citizens, defending their right to detain American Embassy employees they accused of spying and blaming the American ambassador for the diplomatic dispute.

“We did not start this problem,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news briefing during a visit to Serbia. “The problem is the United States itself.”

Mr. Erdogan criticized the American ambassador, John R. Bass, for damaging United States-Turkish relations and said he should have resigned or been recalled after making such a unilateral decision. He said Turkish officials would not accept farewell visits from the ambassador, who was already scheduled to leave Turkey within days to become the ambassador to Afghanistan.

“We do not see him as the U.S. representative in Turkey,” Mr. Erdogan said. Turkey has not withdrawn his diplomatic credentials, however.

The State Department defended Mr. Bass on Tuesday, and said the decision to suspend visa services in Turkey had been cleared at the highest levels of the United States government, including the State Department and the White House.

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“Ambassador Bass has our full backing, not only here at the State Department but also at the White House as well,” said Heather Nauert, the department spokeswoman.

The dispute began on Sunday after a Turkish employee of the United States Consulate in Istanbul was arrested and accused of having links tol), the Islamist cleric accused by the Turkish government of orchestrating) last year.

The consulate employee was the second to be detained this year. A third is being sought, and the police have questioned his family members, according to Turkish news reports.

The American Embassy dismissed the charges as baseless, and in response temporarily to travel to the United States while it assessed Turkey’s commitment to the security of American facilities and personnel.

Within hours, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced similar measures in the United States, adding that the suspension included electronic visas and visas bought at the border, the way most tourists and other short-term visitors enter the country.

On Tuesday, Turkey seemed to have suspended its electronic visa service for Americans. But officials said by early afternoon that no Americans had been turned back since none had arrived without visas.

The Turkish government has been conducting under a state of emergency since the coup attempt in July 2016, arresting more than 50,000 people and suspending 150,000 for alleged links to the Gulen movement. It has also insisted on the need for wide-ranging investigations and purges to remove coup plotters and Gulen supporters from government institutions.

Military officers, politicians, journalists, academics and government workers have been caught up in the broad sweep, as well as several dozen foreign citizens, including

Western officials have accused Mr. Erdogan of detaining foreign citizens as hostages or bargaining chips in order to secure the extradition of Mr. Gulen, who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since the early 1990s.

Photo**Turkey has detained two employees of the United States Consulate in Istanbul, above.

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