Turkey ‘not a friend,’ president says
Trump calls for pastor’s return, says NATO ally acting ‘badly’
President Donald Trump criticized Turkey on Friday, saying the NATO ally is not a friend to the U.S. and had made up espionage charges against an American pastor detained in the country.
“Turkey’s been a problem for a long time,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Friday for a fundraiser in New York. “They have not acted as a friend. We’ll see what happens.”
Relations between Turkey and the U.S. are at a nadir over the detention of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government accuses of being involved in an attempted coup in 2016. Trump has demanded Brunson’s release and has sanctioned Turkish officials and increased tariffs on the country’s steel and aluminum in retaliation. Erdogan has in turn slapped sanctions on U.S. goods.
A Turkish appeals court refused to release Brunson on Friday. Turkey’s lira ended a three-day rally and slid as much as 8 percent Friday.
“They made up this phony charge that he’s a spy,” Trump said. “He’s not a spy. He’s going through a trial right now, if you call it a trial. They should have given him back a long time ago.
“And Turkey has in my opinion acted very, very badly,” he added. “They can’t take our people.”
Turkey, meanwhile, is frustrated by the refusal of the U.S. to extradite a Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkish authorities of engineering the coup attempt.
Also Friday, Turkey’s trade minister said her government would respond in kind to any new trade duties from the United States after U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. could put more sanctions on Turkey if the pastor is not released soon.
“We have responded to the measures the United States has taken, and will continue to do so based on our international trade law rights and in accordance to World Trade Organization rules,” said the minister, Ruhsar Pekcan.
Turkey is struggling to stabilize its currency after it plunged to a record low in a crisis that spurred fears of bankruptcies and a spillover effect in other emerging markets if Turkish firms can’t pay back high foreign debt. Many financial experts say Turkey should raise interest rates to reduce inflation and attract investment, but Erdogan has so far opposed a move he says would curb growth.
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party said Erdogan was using the standoff over the evangelical pastor as a “pretext,” blaming the United States for economic problems and diverting attention from his own alleged mismanagement. The feud over Brunson, who was detained in October 2016, has added to the jitters over an economy that grew quickly, with the help of heavy borrowing, in past years.
“Do you think the lira will gain against the dollar if Brunson is released? Would the amount of Turkey’s debts decrease?” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party, said Thursday in Ankara, the capital.
Supporters of Brunson, who ran a small church in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir, say allegations that he was linked to Kurdish rebels as well as Turkish cleric and alleged coup plotter Fethullah Gulen are absurd. Erdogan previously suggested a swap in which Brunson is released in exchange for Gulen, though U.S. officials have said Turkey must present convincing evidence for any extradition proceeding to be considered.
“We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!” Trump tweeted Thursday. He criticized Turkey for “holding our wonderful Christian Pastor.”
If convicted, the American pastor faces up to 35 years in jail.