Envoy says Tillerson talking with Turkey to resolve crisis

Bloomberg

The US ambassador to Turkey said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is engaged in talks to try and resolve a major diplomatic break between the two NATO allies, sparking a rally in the Turkish lira even as the envoy said he couldn’t predict the outcome of those efforts.
Speaking to reporters at his residence in Ankara, Ambassador John Bass said the decision to freeze visa services from US missions in Turkey stems from a conclusion that two Turkish citizens who worked for the embassy were detained for their work on behalf of the American government. He said that he couldn’t comment on the charges or evidence against the two because Turkey hasn’t provided the US with that information.
“The US government still has not received any official communications from the Turkish government on reasons why our local employees are detained or arrested,” Bass said. “In absence of that, we’re left to conclude that they’re being held as a result of their work over many years on behalf of the US government, which involved a lot of interaction with Turkish law enforcement officials and other officials of Turkish government.” Such work was previously viewed as beneficial to both sides, he said.

Investors Hopeful
The lira rallied as investors speculated that Bass’s comments indicated a preference for a deescalation. The currency traded at 3.6644 against the dollar as of 1:30 p.m., 1.3 percent stronger on the day. Stocks also gained 0.4 percent and yields on Turkey’s 10-year debt fell 2 basis points to 11.37 percent.
“The lira is gaining some ground since the start of press release” by the ambassador, said Can Oksun, a trader at Global Securities. “He says the two governments are continuing their dialogue for a resolution.” Oksun also cited Bass’s denial of rumors that any other employees of the US diplomatic missions were hiding out in embassies or consulates in Turkey for the move.
“We’ll continue to try to address the matter in way that enables us to lift our temporary suspension of visa services,” Bass told reporters. “I can’t prefigure the outcome because its going to depend on those ongoing private conversations and I wont comment on private diplomatic conversations between my minister and his counterparts.”
The comments came a day after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested Bass may have gone rogue in suspending visa services over the arrest of a second Turkish employee of the US diplomatic mission last week, a claim rejected by US officials. Erdogan had been encouraging the impression that Bass acted without approval from Washington, a view that gained traction after several days of silence from the State Department and White House.
“I find the lack of consultation by senior US authorities with our foreign minister awkward,” Erdogan had said in televised remarks in Belgrade, Serbia. “If the ambassador acted on his own, then the US administration should not keep him there for a minute.” Erdogan also rebuffed criticism of Turkey’s arrest of the consulate employee, alleging he had ties to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of masterminding a coup attempt last year.
“The information that a second person is there shows something is going on at the consulate in Istanbul,” Erdogan said, adding that the US should evaluate how such “agents” infiltrated the mission or who placed them there. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told that the US has seen no evidence that the consular employees were supporters of Gulen. Bass’s move was made in consultation with Trump administration officials in Washington, she said.

US Pastor
Turkey’s ties with the US have frayed since the failed coup against Erdogan in July 2016. The US has declined to extradite Gulen, citing a lack of evidence. In a purge that followed the attempted putsch, about 110,000 people have been removed from state jobs; banks, businesses and media outlets were seized or shut down; and tens of thousands, including army officers, academics and journalists, remain in detention.
Among them is also an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, who was detained last October and has been held in a Turkish prison ever since, despite repeated calls for his release. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have directly called on Erdogan in private meetings to set him free. “We have seen nothing to date which suggests that any of the charges against him had any merit,” Bass said of Brunson. “He appears to be being held simply because he’s an American citizen who as a man of faith was in contact with a range of people in this country who he was trying to help in keeping with his faith.”