An Istanbul court on Thursday condemned US Consulate General staff part Metin Topuz to eight years, nine months in jail for helping and abetting a furnished psychological oppressor association.
Topuz was kept on September 25, 2017 and captured on October 4 over his supposed connects to cops and examiners who started two debasement examinations in 2013 – – the purported December 17-25 defilement activities that ensnared then-Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his nearby partners.
Excusing the tests as a Gülenist connivance planned for toppling him, Erdoğan quieted the examinations, had the cops and investigators engaged with the tests captured and assigned the Gülen development, a religious nonconformist gathering drove by a US based minister, as an equipped fear based oppressor association, starting a witch chase against people and associations partnered with the development.
The Istanbul fourteenth High Criminal Court saw Topuz as blameworthy of helping and abetting FETÖ (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization), a term composed by the Turkish government to allude to the Gülen development, and condemned him to very nearly nine years in jail. The court additionally chose to keep Topuz in custody pending intrigue.
Topuz was absolved of different charges leveled against him, in particular, getting characterized data for reasons for surveillance, unlawfully recording individual information, illicitly trading individual information and infringement of privacy.
The US Embassy in Ankara communicated profound disillusionment at the court choice, saying in an announcement, “We have seen no tenable proof to help this conviction and expectation it will quickly be upset. …
“The claims made about Mr. Topuz’s authentic obligations distort both the degree and nature of the significant work embraced by our nearby staff for the benefit of the U.S. government and in the advancement of our reciprocal relationship.”
During the court procedures Topuz denied having any connects to the Gülen development. “I have carried out no wrongdoing, as prove by the reports and witness declaration. … I had contacts with Turkish police, gendarmerie and import/export officers exclusively in my ability as the police contact official and under the guidelines of my bosses.”
Topuz’s capture started a strategic emergency among Washington and Ankara, inciting Washington to suspend all non-worker visa administrations at discretionary missions in Turkey, which was promptly trailed by the Turkish Embassy in Washington suspending visa applications from the US in October 2017.
