Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed displeasure regarding the US embassy’s decision to suspend all non-immigrant visa applications. He said it was very, very “saddening”.
“For the (US) ambassador in Ankara to take a decision like this, to put it into practice, is saddening,” Erdogan said in a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Ukraine’s capital Kiev on Monday.
The Turkish president said that he had immediately ordered a retaliatory measure that resulted in the Turkish embassy in Washington issuing an almost identical text to the US’ announcement.
“Turkey is governed by the rule of law. Above all, we are not a tribe, we are not a tribal state,” he said.
Ankara summoned the US embassy’s second-in-charge, asking that Washington review the decision that caused “unnecessary escalation” and “victimised” both Turkish and US citizens, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said.
