BERLIN (AP) — Turkey's foreign minister is criticizing a U.S. decision to order family members of employees posted to the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul to leave because of security concerns.

The State Department says the move is based on security information indicating that extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack U.S. citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted Thursday as telling the Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung that Turkey thinks the American decision is wrong.

He said he told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that "Istanbul or Ankara is not more unsafe than any U.S. state. On the day that the Americans announced this security measure, 12 people were killed in the city of Chicago alone."