Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday that he had ordered 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist to be declared persona non grata.

The envoys, including the US, French and German representatives in Ankara, issued a statement earlier this week calling for a resolution to the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime.

Describing the statement as an “impudence,” Erdogan said he had ordered the ambassadors be declared undesirable.

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“I gave the instruction to our foreign minister and said ‘You will immediately handle the persona non grata declaration of these 10 ambassadors,'” Erdogan said during a rally in the western city of Eskisehir.

He added: “They will recognize, understand and know Turkey. The day they don’t know or understand Turkey, they will leave.”

The diplomats were called to the foreign ministry on Tuesday, and included ambassadors from the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and New Zealand.

When a diplomat is declared persona non grata, he or she is often barred from remaining in their host nation.

Last year, Kavala, 64, was acquitted of charges related to statewide anti-government rallies in 2013, but the decision was reversed and the accusations were combined with those related to a 2016 coup attempt.

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Kavala and Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas have been imprisoned since 2016. International observers and human rights organisations have frequently advocated for his release. They claim that their detention is due to political concerns. Ankara disputes the allegations and maintains that Turkish courts are independent.

In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Kavala’s release, claiming that his imprisonment was used to suppress him and was not backed by proof of an offence. If Kavala is not freed, the Council of Europe said it would initiate infringement actions against Turkey at the end of November.

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David Satterfield, the current US ambassador, was appointed in 2019. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed Jeff Flake’s nomination as his replacement on Tuesday.

“We are aware of these claims and are seeking clarity from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the State Department stated in a statement after Erdogan’s directive was revealed.

With inputs from the Associated Press