West’s consulate closures ‘intentional’: FM

The decision taken by the prominent western countries, including the United States, over an unclear security threat is intentional and serving the terror organizations, Türkiye's top diplomat has said, warning them to fully cooperate with the Turkish authorities if they have concrete intelligence.

"If there is a terror threat and this threat is against an ally, shouldn't this country inform us from where and who this threat is coming from? They tell us 'We have concrete intelligence about a threat, and therefore, we close the consulates.' But who will attack and where? No information on this," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at a joint press conference with visiting Argentinian Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero in Istanbul on Feb. 3.

Nine Western countries, the U.S., France, Germany, Britain, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden temporarily closed their consulates following issuing security alerts for their citizens over an alleged terror attack that would target foreigners in downtown Istanbul.

Çavuşoğlu said no concrete intelligence was shared with the Turkish authorities, stressing, "What needs to be done rightly is disseminating this information to our security and intelligence so that this threat can be contained before it becomes an attack."

Recalling that the ambassadors of these nine countries were summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Feb. 2 to express Ankara's disturbance over their closure of consulates, Çavuşoğlu said the Turkish government is considering this move as intentional.

"I say this for all these countries: Closing these consulates before sharing the details about the intelligence with us is intentional. If they want to give the impression that 'Türkiye is unstable, Türkiye is under...