Turkish court orders release of US Consulate employee from house arrest
US Charge d’Affaires in Ankara Jeffrey Hovenier (L) speaks to reporters as US Istanbul Consulate Mete Cantürk, the suspect in trial over alleged links to FETÖ, leaves the courtroom in Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse. (DHA Photo)
A Turkish court ruled on Tuesday to release U.S. Consulate General employee Nazmi Mete Cantürk from house arrest due to health issues but barred him from leaving the country during his trial.
Cantürk, a security officer at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, and his wife and daughter are accused of links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which is responsible for a bloody coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Prosecutors claim the three defendants have connections with former police chiefs and soldiers in FETÖ, as well as former fugitive prosecutor Zekeriya Öz.
The 27th Istanbul Heavy Penal Court also ordered to lift judicial control measures on Cantürk’s wife Sevim Cantürk and daughter Kevser Irem Cantürk. Cantürk must check in at the police station once a week during house arrest, the court stipulated.
U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Ankara Jeffrey Hovenier also attended the hearing.
All three defendants and their lawyers had rejected the charges and demanded that the judicial control provisions be lifted.
The court also decided to hear the defendant Metin Topuz, another U.S. consulate employee who is on trial on espionage charges, as a witness.
Several Turkish employees of U.S. diplomatic mission and U.S. citizens are currently on trial as Turkey accuses the U.S. of harboring FETÖ, which operates a vast network of charter schools and businesses in the country, and its leader Fetullah Gülen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
Hamza Uluçay, a Turkish translator of the U.S. mission in southern Adana province was convicted of terror-related offenses earlier this year but released from prison.
Source:Dailysabah.com