Türkiye summons nine Western ambassadors over security alerts

Ambassadors of nine countries were invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye due to the closure of their general consulates in Istanbul, Turanews.kz reports.

Earlier, Turkish Minister of Internal Affaris Suleyman Soylu announced that a number of Western countries had launched a “psychological war” against Ankara and had closed their diplomatic missions under the pretext of a terrorist threat without providing any evidence.

Omer Celik, the official representative of the ruling party “Justice and Development” (ADP), called the pretext for stopping the work of the consulates of Western countries “absurd”, and the related statement “irresponsible”.

As of February 3, France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, Italy, Denmark and Great Britain have temporarily closed their consulates in Istanbul.

On January 30, the US Embassy warned citizens that terrorist attacks in the center of Istanbul are dangerous. According to them, the targets of the terrorists could be churches, synagogues, diplomatic missions in Istanbul and other places popular among foreigners, especially Beyoğlu, Galata, Taksim districts and Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul.

The diplomatic conflict between Türkiye and Sweden is intensifying due to the burning of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Such actions were also held in other European countries.

Earlier, it was reported that Türkiye decided not to approve Stockholm’s application for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in response to the action in Sweden.