Turkey seeks life sentence against US Consulate employee
A Turkish national and liaison officer for the DEA at the US Consulate in Istanbul has been indicted for espionage.
As Turkey continues to joust with the United States over a proposed safe zone in northern Syria and its attendant effects on the Kurds, the merits of appeasing Ankara have been called into question yet again with Turkish prosecutors seeking a life sentence for a US Consulate employee.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that US Consulate employee Metin Topuz, jailed since October 2017 on charges of espionage and attempts to overthrow Turkey’s government, was accused in a 78-page indictment seen by the news service of “intense contact” with Turkish police officers who led a massive corruption investigation targeting Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s then prime minister, who was elected president a year later.
