U.S. diplomats ensnared in ongoing row between Washington and Turkey

 U.S. diplomats ensnared in ongoing row between Washington and Turkey

 The diplomatic row between the U.S. and Turkey, sparked by the arrest of the senior liaison officer at the American consulate in Istanbul over the weekend, escalated Monday when Ankara issued a warrant for a second employee of the U.S. diplomatic mission in the country.
Ankara has yet to confirm the arrest warrant, but local reports say the country’s security services were seeking to question the unnamed consulate employee, who remains in hiding on the grounds of the American consulate, regarding their alleged ties to last July’s failed coup attempt. The individual’s wife and child are already in government custody and reportedly being interrogated, after their arrest in the northern Turkish city of Amasya.

The warrant comes less than a week after Turkish security services detained Metin Topuz, a Turkish national who was working as liaison officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul. Ankara ordered his arrest as part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the Erdogan regime believes was behind last year’s attempted military coup.
Mr. Gulen, who lives in exile in Saylorsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a former Erdogan ally turned bitter foe who was tried and convicted in absentia in Turkey for attempting to overthrow the government. The U.S. has thus far refused to extradite him back to Turkey to face sentencing.
The identity of the U.S. consulate employee being sought by Turkish authorities, who is also accused of being a Gulen ally, was uncovered during the ongoing investigation into military and government officials linked to the coup attempt.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusolglu discussed the tense state of bilateral relations over the weekend.