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Europe should have sent top officials to Turkey after coup - official

The seal is seen on a gate of a girls dormitory which was sealed by Turkish authorities over alleged links to the followers of U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey accused of staging a coup attempt in July, in Ankara, Turkey, August 16, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's presidential spokesman said on Wednesday it was unacceptable that European states had not sent high-level officials to visit Turkey since a failed coup attempt, speaking after several lower level European trips in recent weeks. Ties between Turkey and the EU have become more strained since a failed coup last month that led Turkey to purge state institutions of suspected coup sympathisers. EU states have urged restraint, drawing criticism from Turkey who said they failed to appreciate the threat posed by those behind the plot. Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan, also told news briefing he welcomed Russia's decision to restart charter flights, after Ankara patched up strained relations with Moscow. (Reporting by Ercan Gurses and Asli Kandemir; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Dasha Afanasieva)