A U.S. delegation headed by Jonathan Cohen, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department, arrived in Turkey’s capital on Monday.
When asked about the visa dispute between Ankara and Washington, Cohen said: “I am not the determinant.”
The delegation is expected to meet with Ahmet Muhtar Gun, deputy undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday.
On Oct. 8, both countries suspended the issuing of non-immigrant visas from missions on each other’s territory.
The breakdown followed the Oct. 6 arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish employee at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, on suspicion of ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), said to have orchestrated last year’s failed coup in Turkey.
The crisis coincided with the planned replacement of U.S. Ambassador John Bass, who left Turkey on the weekend. The U.S. will be represented in Turkey by Deputy Chief of Mission Philip Kosnett until a new ambassador is appointed.
Last week, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said he had spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by telephone to work out an end to the dispute. Seperately, Ahmet Muhtar Gun, deputy undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry, met Bass.
