Bilgiç: “Freezing of bank accounts harms the negotiation process”

The Spokesperson of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tanju Bilgiç reacted to the freezing of the bank accounts of the Turkish diplomats in the UK and said that this situation hampers their work.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the British Ambassador to Turkey on Friday to take steps against suspended bank accounts of Turkish diplomats by the United Kingdom.

Turkish authorities have started an objection appeal process at British courts calling on British authorities to fulfill their obligations under the international law, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic.

“We have initiated an appeal process. We expect the prohibitions and precautions that have been placed on these accounts to be immediately lifted and for the UK to follow and adhere to the legal obligations that are required by international law. We expect the legal appeal process to be finalized very soon” Bilgiç stressed.

Bilgic also underlined that the suspension of the bank accounts violates the Vienna Convention as it is against the nature of diplomatic and consular relations.

“As you know, some international agreements on diplomatic relations are recognized as constitutional law. These are the 1961 and 1963 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations” he said.

“Freezing of these accounts means the disregard of both of these agreements” he continued.

“Additionally by freezing these accounts the UK has disrupted the workflow of our diplomatic and consular activities and disregarded the Vienna Conventions. Naturally this is completely unacceptable for us”.

Responding to a question about the freezing of diplomats’ bank accounts at a Turkish bank in the UK, Bilgic said the freezing of the accounts dates back to a decision that was taken in 2014-2015 by the Greek Cypriot administration as “precautionary measure.”

Reminding that the negotiation process continues in Cyprus Bilgiç said that such attempts harms the positive atmosphere of the negotiations.