Envoys vow to comply with Vienna Convention

ANKARA

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara has said it maintains compliance with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention that stipulates that the diplomatic principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the guest state amid President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call for the expulsion of 10 ambassadors who issued a statement on the Osman Kavala case last week. 

Dutch Ambassador Marjanne de Kwaasteniet and the embassies of Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, New Zealand also retweeted the statement made by the U.S. embassy. 

Presidential sources stressed that these statements were considered as positive by Erdoğan, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

“In response to questions concerning the statement of Oct. 18, the United States notes that it maintains compliance with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the embassy said on Twitter on Oct. 25. 

The embassies of the U.S., Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, France and Germany issued a joint statement on Oct. 18 calling on Turkey to urgently release businessman Osman Kavala, who has been behind bars since 2017, although he has not convicted. Erdoğan said he instructed the Foreign Ministry for the expulsion of the 10 ambassadors for interfering in internal matters and judicial affairs of Turkey. 

The statements from these three countries came as the cabinet got convened to discuss the situation. 
Article 41 of the Vienna Convention reads: “Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.”

“All official business with the receiving State entrusted to the mission by the sending state shall be conducted with or through the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the receiving state or such other ministry as may be agreed,” it also stresses.