Turkey's Erdogan orders expulsion of ten ambassadors - RTE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his foreign minister to expel the ambassadors of ten countries, including Germany and the United States, who appealed for the release of a jailed civil society leader.

"I have ordered our foreign minister to declare these ten ambassadors as persona non grata as soon as possible," he said, referring to a term used in diplomacy which signifies the first step before expulsion.

Mr Erdogan did not set a firm date.

"They must know and understand Turkey," he added, accusing the envoys of "indecency".

"They must leave here the day they no longer know Turkey," he said of the ambassadors.

The envoys issued a highly unusual joint statement on Monday saying the continued detention of Parisian-born philanthropist and activist Osman Kavala "cast a shadow" over Turkey.

The US, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden called for a "just and speedy resolution to (Kavala's) case".

Mr Kavala has been in jail without a conviction since 2017, and faces a string of alternating charges linked to 2013 anti-government protests and a failed military coup in 2016.

He has become a symbol of the sweeping crackdown Mr Erdogan unleashed after surviving the coup attempt.