The U.S. and Turkey have resumed normal visa processing services.
After a diplomatic conflict between the two countries resulted in each suspending visa services at embassies, relations have normalized. However, they have not been entirely smoothed out.
A statement released today from the U.S. Embassy in Turkey announced the return to regular operations.
"Since October, the Government of Turkey has adhered to the high-level assurances it provided to the United States that there are no additional local employees of our Mission in Turkey under investigation, that local staff of our Embassy and consulates will not be detained or arrested for performing their official duties-including communicating with Turkish officials also working in an official capacity-and that Turkish authorities will inform the U.S. government in advance if the Government of Turkey intends to detain or arrest any member of our local staff in the future."
The statement continued:
"The Department of State is confident that the security posture has improved sufficiently to allow the full resumption of visa services in Turkey," the U.S. Embassy said.
Turkey was pleased by the announcement but hit back regarding the statement issued by the U.S., saying that it had provided no such assurances in relations to ongoing legal issues.
"We do not approve of the United States providing the Turkish and American public wrongful information," the embassy said.
The U.S. remains concerned about the existing allegations against workers for the U.S. Mission in Turkey as well as allegations against U.S. citizens in the country, which sparked the crisis in October.
The U.S. continues to engage with Turkish officials in order to resolve these issues.
Turkey isn't the only place in which the U.S. has slashed visa services as a result of poor diplomatic relations.
The U.S. has had similar troubles in Russia and recently announced it would reduce operations in the country. U.S. Embassy staff and services have also been greatly reduced in Cuba following a number of reports of unexplained sonic attacks.
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