Turkish government 'not satisfied' by US statement on phone call to key coup figure

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ have voiced their dissatisfaction with a statement released by the U.S. Embassy to Turkey regarding a phone call to one of the key figures of the July 15, 2016, failed coup attempt, six days after the thwarted uprising. 

The embassy in Ankara said the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul called Adil Öksüz on July 21 after Turkish police contacted the U.S. mission in Turkey the same day for help in preventing him leaving the country. 

According to an indictment, a number belonging to the U.S. consulate attempted to call Öksüz, prompting U.S. officials in Ankara to say on March 29 that it called Öksüz to tell him his visa to the United States had been canceled.

Yıldırım, Çavuşoğlu and Bozdağ said the statement lacked explanation.

"That is the official statement, if you buy it," Yıldırım told the private broadcaster NTV late on March 29, adding that "a more satisfactory response is needed."

"The official statement is 'We called him to cancel his visa. He was one of the perpetrators of July 15, so we showed sensitivity, acted responsibly against the Turkish Republic and immediately canceled his visa.' We need to see if there are other things. One cannot refrain from asking 'Everything was done with and that was left?' We expect a more satisfactory response," he also said. 

Öksüz was caught while trying to escape from the Akıncı Air Base in Ankara on the morning of July 16, 2016, but he was released a short while later by a court in the Sincan district. He has been at large since then. 

It was previously revealed that Öksüz met high-level commanders in Ankara while preparing for the coup, and it has also...