Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to remove 10 Western diplomats including US, German and French representatives who have demanded the release of a Turkish civil society leader.
“I gave an order to our foreign minister to tell him what to do. These 10 ambassadors must be declared ‘persona non grata’ at once. Then the issue will be resolved immediately. They should know and understand about Turkey. They do not know Turkey and They have to leave the day they don’t understand, “Erdogan said in a televised address.
The Latin word ‘persona non grata’ means that an elected diplomat loses privileges such as suspension of arrest, special diplomatic protection and privacy in a particular country that he is appointed to. Removal implies that he is an ordinary person in that country who does not have diplomatic immunity, as well as that he should be expelled from diplomatic representation.
The ambassadors of Turkey to the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and New Zealand made a joint statement on October 18 announcing the release of Osman, a Turkish philanthropist and civil society leader.
Although not convicted of a crime, he has been remanded in custody for four years. He was acquitted last year of charges related to anti-government protests in 2013, but was re-arrested before being released on charges of involvement in the 2016 coup attempt.
