Turkey’s President Orders Expulsion of 10 Western Ambassadors

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan ordered the Foreign Ministry to expel the ambassadors of 10 Western countries, including the United States. The reason for the expulsion is their demand for the release of Osman Kavala, a philanthropist who has been in jail since 2017 on charges of financing protests throughout the country in 2013, as well as being involved in a 2016 failed coup attempt. He denies the charges.

The ambassadors of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand and the United States in a statement issued last week called for Kavala’s release and a resolution to the case. Erdogan responded to the statement by ordering the country’s foreign minister to declare the ambassadors as persona non grata, the step before expulsion.  Seven of the countries are Turkey’s NATO allies.

Kavala on Friday announced that he would not attend his trial, saying that he could not be assured of a fair hearing in light of a recent statement by Erdogan I which he said that the ambassadors who signed the statement would not release “bandits, murderers and terrorists” in their own countries. Kavala’s trial resumes on Tuesday.