ISTANBUL: A Turkish court rejected an appeal on Friday to free a US consular staffer on bail during an espionage trial that has deepened tensions between Washington and Ankara.
Prosecutors argued that Metin Topuz, a Turkish citizen and liaison for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was a flight risk and must remain in custody in Istanbul.
His next hearing was set for September 18.
Topuz was arrested in 2017 and accused of contacts with police. A prosecutor also suspected of ties to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says ordered an attempted coup in 2016.
“All my contacts with those in high-ranking positions of the state at the time were entirely part of my work as a translator and assistant liaison officer at the DEA. I am innocent,” Topuz said during his last court appearance in May.
The US embassy says there is no credible evidence against him.
Topuz faces a separate investigation on charges of seeking to “overthrow the constitutional order.”
The trial comes at a time when the NATO allies are increasingly at odds over the Syrian conflict, Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian missile defense system, and the US refusal to extradite Gulen.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Since the failed 2016 coup against Erdogan, tens of thousands of people have been arrested over suspected ties to Gulen and more than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from public sector jobs. Gulen rejects the coup accusations.
US consular staffer to stay in Turkey detention on spy charges
US consular staffer to stay in Turkey detention on spy charges
- Topuz faces a separate investigation on charges of seeking to “overthrow the constitutional order.”
- The US embassy says there is no credible evidence against him
Iran’s foreign minister heads to Muscat for nuclear talks with US
- Iran will engage in the talks “with authority and with the aim of reaching a fair, mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue,” a spokesperson said
TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has departed for the Omani capital Muscat at the head of a diplomatic delegation for nuclear talks with the US due to be held on Friday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said.
The US and Iran have agreed to hold talks in Oman on Friday, officials for both sides said, even as they remain at odds over Washington’s insistence that negotiations must include Tehran’s missile arsenal and Iran’s vow to discuss only its nuclear program.
Iran will engage in the talks “with authority and with the aim of reaching a fair, mutually acceptable and dignified understanding on the nuclear issue,” the spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday.
“We hope the American side will also participate in this process with responsibility, realism and seriousness,” Baghaei added.
