Turkey singles out Apple in call for electronics boycott

ISTANBUL >> President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey would boycott U.S.-made electronic products, escalating a feud with the Trump administration that has contributed to the rapid decline of the Turkish currency.

The currency, the lira, tumbled against the dollar last week when President Donald Trump said he was doubling tariffs on imported Turkish metals to punish Erdogan for refusing to free an American pastor currently on trial in Turkey. The argument over the pastor, Andrew Brunson, has sparked the worst crisis between the NATO allies in decades and led to fears that Turkey’s economic problems could cause a new global financial crisis.

“We are going to apply a boycott on America’s electronic products,” Erdogan said Tuesday during a televised speech, adding that there were alternatives, produced by South Korean or

Turkish companies. He did not say when the boycott would start or how it would be enforced.

“If they have the iPhone, there is Samsung on the other side,” he said, referring to the phone by Apple that became closely associated with Erdogan himself two years ago when he used the phone’s FaceTime feature

to rally citizens during a failed coup attempt.

The Turkish president, who is voluble even in his country’s calmest moments, has spoken in public repeatedly as the currency has tumbled, repeating his assertions that the depreciation is due to the sabotage by outside powers and insisting that the fundamentals of the Turkish economy are strong.

His comments have so far failed to quell a crisis that economists say is

largely self-inflicted, owing to an overheated economy and the debt exposure of Turkey’s companies and banks. Turkey’s dispute with the Trump administration over the fate of Brunson has poured fuel on the crisis.

Brunson, from North Carolina, was arrested nearly two years ago in Turkey and accused of aiding terrorist groups. He has asserted his innocence, and U.S. officials have dismissed the charges as baseless. Last month, a Turkish court ordered Brunson’s release from prison but placed him under house arrest, prompting a furious reaction from the Trump administration, which had demanded that he be allowed to return to the United States.

On Tuesday, Brunson’s Turkish lawyer petitioned the court to release the American from house arrest, after a previous appeal was denied.