US condemns arrest of Istanbul consulate worker

The US embassy in Ankara said it was deeply disturbed by the arrest of the locally employed staff member and said it appeared that leaked information from Turkish government sources aimed at trying him in the media rather than a court of law. "Baseless, anonymous allegations against our employees undermine and devalue (the) longstanding partnership" between the United States and Turkey, the embassy said in a statement, dismissing the allegations as "wholly without merit." 

Tensions between the two countries have escalated recently over US military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, considered by Ankara to be an extension of the banned PKK which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey. Turkey has also pressed, so far in vain, for the United States to extradite US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who it blames for the failed coup attempt last year in which more than 240 people were killed. Gulen denies any involvement.