Turkish court jails U.S. consulate worker on terrorism charges

A Turkish court jailed a local employee of a U.S. consulate for nearly nine years on Thursday for aiding a terrorist organisation, a ruling the United States said would undermine the trust underpinning bilateral relations. Metin Topuz's trial has been a major source of tension between the two NATO allies, which are also at odds over Ankara's purchase of Russian missile defence systems and U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria. Topuz, a translator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the consulate in Istanbul, was sentenced to eight years and nine months for aiding a network Turkey blames for a 2016 coup attempt, state-owned Anadolu agency said.

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