Turkey seeks reduced charges against US consulate employee
A Turkish prosecutor is seeking 15 years for Istanbul US Consulate employee Metin Topuz for alleged links to an outlawed group, but has dropped separate espionage and coup-plotting charges.
A Turkish prosecutor is seeking up to 15 years for a Turkish employee of the US consulate in Istanbul for his alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Sunni preacher who is accused of masterminding the failed 2016 coup.
Metin Topuz, a veteran translator for the US Drug Enforcement Agency, was arrested in October 2017 on charges of membership of the so-called Gulenist Terror Group or FETO, sparking a diplomatic row between the NATO allies and a temporary freeze on visa services for Turkish nationals at US missions in Turkey. Topuz and the US government deny all the accusations.
