Turkish foreign minister says 32 diplomatic personnel failed to heed return call

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

AA photo

A total of 32 diplomatic personnel on foreign missions have failed to heed Ankara’s call to return as part of the investigation into the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which was blamed for the July 15 failed coup attempt, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has announced.

“We had called back a total of 208 diplomatic personnel to assign them to the [Foreign] Ministry. The number of personnel who did not come back unexcused and without leave is 32,” Çavuşoğlu said, while speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, on Aug. 12 in the capital Ankara.

The minister also added that two of the personnel who had been working in Bangladesh fled to the U.S. while the other had returned to Turkey and begun to work at the ministry.

In addition, Çavuşoğlu said a delegation from the U.S. Department of Justice would hold talks in Turkey on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 to discuss the extradition of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

However, RIA reported earlier that a Turkish diplomat working at Turkey’s Dhaka embassy in Bangladesh has fled to Russia.

According to RIA Novosti, which provided the information via the English Daily Star, an unidentified diplomat, who was among three names called back to Ankara after the July 15 failed coup attempt, fled to Russia along with his family.

The report also quoted the Bengali Foreign Ministry as saying Turkish officials had suspended the diplomatic passports of three diplomats in the country.