You're reading: Reuters: Turkey to expel US envoy and nine others, Erdogan says

Reuters: Turkey to expel US envoy and nine others, Erdogan says

Published Oct. 24, 2021 at 2:05 am

(FILES) In this file photograph taken on October 31, 2018, a journalist stands in front of a poster featuring an image of jailed businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala during a press conference held by his lawyers in Istanbul. - Jailed without a conviction since 2017, Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala says he feels like a tool in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's attempts to blame a foreign plot for domestic dissent against his mercurial rule. (Photo by OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Photo by AFP

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that he had told his foreign ministry to expel the ambassadors of the United States and nine other Western countries for demanding the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala. Seven of the ambassadors represent Turkey’s NATO allies and the expulsions, if carried out, would open the deepest rift with the West in Erdogan’s 19 years in power.