The man, a Syrian national named in the Turkish reports as Mohammed Raghil al-Hardani, was detained at the bus station in the southern city of Kahramanmaras and then remanded in custody by a local court.
Al-Hardani had been seeking to travel from Kahramanmaras to the southern city of Gaziantep to join a IS bomb-making cell, the Dogan news agency reported. He was then planning to travel from there to Istanbul to carry out the attack.
Intelligence about the planned attack prompted the partial closure of the consulate for one day last week, the official Anatolia news agency said.
Turkey had shared the intelligence about Hardani's plans with its American counterparts. An unidentified friend detained with him was released, the reports said.
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The United States consulate in Istanbul on December 9 offered only limited services with a scaled-down staffing due to information about a possible security threat.
There were no further details on the suspected plot or any confirmation from the government.
There have also been attacks on security forces by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and sporadic actions by the banned ultra-left wing group the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front.