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ANKARA, March 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The US embassy in the Turkish capital
Ankara will be closed to the public on Monday over a “security threat”, the
mission announced on its website.

The embassy was the target in 2013 of a suicide bombing claimed by a far-
left group that killed a Turkish security guard.

Relations between NATO allies Washington and Ankara are strained over a
number of issues, notably the US arming of a Syrian Kurdish militia, the
Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara on January 20 launched
an operation against the YPG in its border stronghold of Afrin in western
Syria.

Turkey has called on Washington to stop working with the YPG, which it
views as a “terrorist” group.

But the United States has expressed concern about the Turkish Operation
dubbed “Olive Branch” and urged restraint from Turkey.