the recent evacuation of non-combatants from Turkey
US updates travel warning in Turkey 01:28
Story highlights
- US warns of potential attacks on US citizens in areas of Istanbul
- Turkey has become more volatile with terrorist attacks and a coup attempt
(CNN)The
US government has ordered all civilian family members of its Istanbul
consulate staff to leave Turkey because of increasing threats from
terrorist organizations, according to a travel warning issued Saturday by the US State Department.
"The
Department of State made this decision based on security information
indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack
US citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent," the
warning said.
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.
Turkey
has become increasingly volatile in the past year because of terrorist
attacks at home and its involvement in the Syrian civil war.
ISIS is suspected in a June attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that left 44 people dead, and an explosion at an August wedding in Gaziantep, not far from the border with Syria, that killed at least 54 people.
The Turkish army suspects the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind a September car bombing in southeast Turkey that killed at least 18 people. That group has been accused of a string of bombings targeting Turkish police and army assets.
Not
all the violence involves militant groups. A failed coup against
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July led to a massive number of
arrests and the imposition of a state of emergency.
Meanwhile, Turkey's intrusion into the Syrian civil war has strained relations with the United States.
Turkey
says it wants to help Syrian rebel forces fight ISIS, but Turkish
warplanes have also bombed US-allied Kurdish fighters who are also
fighting ISIS. Kurds are a large ethnic minority along the
Turkish-Syrian border.
The United States has evacuated other dependents from Turkey.
In March, the Pentagon ordered family members to leave Incirlik Airbase
in southeast Turkey because of danger from ISIS. The State Department
also ordered families of employees of the US consulate in Adana to
evacuate the country.
The State
Department didn't say how many family members would be affected by the
Saturday evacuation order. The warning said that the consulate remains
open and fully staffed and that the order does not apply to other
diplomatic posts in Turkey.
US
diplomatic posts in Turkey have been attacked in the past. In July 2009,
gunmen fired on the US Consulate in Istanbul, and in February 2013 a
suicide bomber attacked the US Embassy in Ankara.
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