The Foreign Ministry summoned late Tuesday the ambassadors of 10 countries over their joint statement calling for the release of jailed Turkish businessperson Osman Kavala, TurkicWorld reports citing Daily Sabah.
"It is an obligation that all diplomatic entities respect our country's sovereignty and the independence of Turkish judiciary, and that they refrain from intervening in our domestic affairs," ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said in a tweet.
"We are pleased that diplomats on duty in our country are contributing to the ties between our nation and their own states," he added.
"Nevertheless, we reject in the strongest terms their faulty statements concerning our country's sovereignty."
“Ambassadors of other countries do not have the right to comment on ‘ongoing cases’ in Turkey when it is forbidden to even discuss or hold meetings about an ongoing trial in Turkish Parliament; this is very clearly stepping out of bounds,” speaker of Turkish Parliament, Mustafa Şentop also said in a tweet.
Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül also criticized the statement.
“Diplomats are bound to have respect to the judiciary of the country they are serving in. According to our Constitution, no ambassador can give advice to our courts or tell them to do anything. What casts shadow on the rule of law is this presumption,” he said.
“Republic of Turkey is a democratic country based on rule of law. It in unacceptable that ambassadors tell our judiciary what to do or give advice to it,” Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu also underlined.
