Turkish court jails US consulate employee for terrorism charges

The Turkish man has been sentenced to about five years in prison

A Turkish employee at the US consulate in Istanbul has been sentenced to about five years in prison on terrorism charges.

A Turkish US consulate employee was sentenced to about five years in prison in Turkey on Tuesday after being found guilty of "aiding an armed terror group", state news agency Anadolu reported.

Nazmi Mete Canturk, a Turkish citizen who worked at the Istanbul consulate as a security officer, was jailed for five years, two months and 15 days for aiding a movement blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed 2016 coup, the agency said.

Another employee, Metin Topuz, a Turkish citizen who worked as a liaison officer for the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Istanbul, was sentenced to nearly nine years after being found guilty of the same charge in June.

Canturk and Topuz were suspected of links to Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the US, and his movement, which Ankara proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

Both men denied the charges during their trials.

Their detention strained relations between Nato allies Ankara and Washington, which were already tense because of several issues, including the failure of the US to extradite Mr Gulen to Turkey.

Mr Gulen vehemently denies any link to the attempted overthrow.