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Turkey frees U.S. NASA scientist Serkan Golge after 2016 arrest

By Daniel Uria

May 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department announced the release Wednesday of a NASA scientist who was arrested in Turkey in 2016.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the United States welcomed the news of Serkan Golge's release from prison, during a news conference.

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"We will continue to follow Mr. Golge's case closely along with those involving our own locally employed staff at mission Turkey," Ortagus said. "We take our obligation to assist U.S. citizens arrested abroad seriously and we will continue to provide all appropriate consular services to Mr. Gogle, including making sure he can return home as soon as possible."

Golge's wife, Kubra Golge, confirmed to The New York Times that he had been released from prison and was on his way to reunite with his parents in the Turkish city of Hatay.

"I just talked to him on the phone. He is going back to his family," she said. "He was shocked."

Golge, a Turkish-American citizen, was arrested while visiting his family in southern Turkey in 2016 in the midst of a failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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