美國暫停在土耳其辦理所有非移民簽證

The United States has suspended the processing of the vast majority of new visas in Turkey after Turkish authorities arrested a US embassy employee last week, escalating a brewing diplomatic crisis between the two allies and, in effect, blocking thousands of Turks from travel to the US.

上周土耳其當局逮捕美國大使館一名工作人員后，美國已暫停在土辦理絕大多數(shù)新簽證，這一事態(tài)加劇了美土這兩個盟友之間不斷發(fā)酵的外交危機，并在事實上堵住了成千上萬土耳其人的赴美之路。

The news sent the Turkish lira down as much as 6.6 per cent against the dollar in thin overnight trading to an intraday low of 3.8533 per dollar, its softest level since January 30.

消息傳出后，在交投清淡的隔夜交易中，土耳其里拉對美元匯率一度下跌6.6%，創(chuàng)下1美元兌3.8533里拉的日內低點，同時也是自今年1月30日以來的低點。

The embassy employee is the second to be arrested in the last year, in addition to at least a dozen US citizens held under yet unproven allegations of allegiance to Fethullah Gulen, a self-exiled Islamic preacher living in Pennsylvania whose extradition Turkey has sought to little avail.

此次被捕的工作人員是過去一年里被捕的第二名美國大使館工作人員。此外，還有至少十幾名美國公民因被指控效忠費特胡拉•居倫(Fethullah Gulen)而被土方關押，盡管這些指控尚未得到證實。居倫是一名自我流放的伊斯蘭傳教士，目前住在美國賓夕法尼亞州，土耳其已要求美國引渡居倫，但未得到什么響應。

“Recent events have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of the government of Turkey to the security of US mission facilities and personnel,” the US embassy in Ankara said in a statement late on Sunday. “In order to minimise the number of visitors to our embassy and consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey.”

“最近的事態(tài)令美國政府不得不重新評估土耳其政府對美國使團設施及人員的安全作出的承諾，”美國駐安卡拉大使館在周日晚的一則聲明中表示，“為了在評估進行期間最大限度減少我們使領館的訪客數(shù)量，我們已從即刻起在所有美國駐土耳其外交設施暫停一切非移民簽證服務。”

In retaliation, Turkey’s embassy in Washington blocked new applications from US citizens, in a statement using almost identical language.

作為報復，土耳其駐華盛頓大使館在一份幾乎使用了同樣措辭的聲明中表示，停辦美國公民新提交的赴土簽證申請。

That means that other than those applying to immigrate to the US — usually because they have family there — no new visas will be issued to business people, tourists or students, among others. In the 2016 fiscal year, the US embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul issued 113,240 non-immigrant visas, compared to just 4,214 immigrant visas, according to state department data.

這意味著，除了那些申請移民美國的人——通常因為他們有家人在美國——美國將不會對土耳其商務人士、游客、學生等等發(fā)放新簽證。美國國務院數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在2016年財年，美國駐安卡拉大使館和駐伊斯坦布爾領事館共計簽發(fā)了113240份非移民簽證，簽發(fā)的移民簽證只有4214份。

The arrest of the second embassy employee — a Turkish citizen — has incensed US diplomats, who said it confirmed suspicions that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers American detainees in Turkish prisons as a bargaining chip in its increasingly hostile negotiations with the US over the extradition of Mr Gulen and the trial of a Turkish-Iranian citizen with ties to Mr Erdogan’s inner circle.

第二名大使館工作人員(土耳其籍)被捕激怒了美國的外交人員，他們稱此舉證實了一種懷疑，即在土美圍繞引渡居倫和審判一名與土耳其總統(tǒng)雷杰普•塔伊普•埃爾多安(Recep Tayyip Erdogan，文首圖)核心圈子有關系的土耳其-伊朗雙重國籍人士展開的敵意漸濃的談判中，埃爾多安把關在土耳其監(jiān)獄中的美國公民視為討價還價的籌碼。