Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said he ordered the country's foreign minister to declare 10 Western ambassadors "persona non grata at once," after they signed a joint statement earlier this week calling for the "urgent release" of philanthropist Osman Kavala from prison.
Kavala was charged with financing protests in Turkey in 2013 and being involved in a failed 2016 coup, both allegations that he denies. He has been in prison since 2017, and while he was acquitted in 2020 of charges related to the protests, that ruling was overturned earlier this year.
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