Turkey and the US have become embroiled in a consular row, mutually scaling back visa services, the BBC reports.
The American mission in Ankara said it had suspended all non-immigrant visa services in order to “reassess” Turkey’s commitment to staff security.
Turkey’s embassy in Washington replied by suspending “all visa services”.
The latest spat began when a US consulate worker in Istanbul was held over suspected links to a cleric blamed for last year’s failed coup in Turkey.
Washington condemned the move as baseless and damaging to bilateral relations.
The arrested consulate employee was a male Turkish citizen, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The row prompted a 4% fall in Turkey’s main share index while the Turkish lira tumbled more than 2.5% against the dollar.
In its statement on Sunday, the US embassy in Ankara said: “Recent events have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of government of Turkey to the security of US mission and personnel.
“In order to minimise the number of visitors to our embassy and consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey.”
Only people permanently moving to the US will now be able to apply for visas.
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