US orders families of consulate workers in Istanbul to leave

U.S. service members participate in an Armed Forces Flag Cordon hosted by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in honor of His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister at the State Department in Washington, D.C., May 16, 2013. "The Department of State made this decision based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent," the department said in a statement. The warning goes beyond the one issued Monday that urged Americans to avoid traveling to southeast Turkey, especially urban centers near the Turkish-Syrian border, because of recent terrorist attacks. The 15 Kurdish media companies that were shut down are accused of ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been battling the Turkish state off and on for some 30 years. The decree also effectively grants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the power to appoint all the heads of Turkey's universities by abolishing a system in which academics picked the top candidates for rectors of the schools. Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider it to be a terrorist organization. WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is ordering family members of employees posted to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul to leave because of security concerns. The State Department said the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul remains open and said the order does not apply to any other U.S. diplomatic posts in Turkey. The order applies only to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, not to other U.S. diplomatic posts in Turkey.
The United States orders all civilian staff family members to leave its consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, due to increasing threats from terrorist organizations.