Erdogan vows to defy US ‘threats’
> Turkish leader threatens to ‘look for new allies’
ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Saturday to defy US “threats” over a detained pastor, showing no signs of concessions in a bitter row that has caused the Turkish lira to crash.
Relations between the two Nato allies have sunk to their lowest point in decades over a string of issues including the detention of US pastor Andrew Brunson on terror-related charges.
The lira tumbled 16% against the US dollar on Friday, falling further when President Donald Trump said he had doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey.
“It is wrong to dare bring Turkey to its knees through threats over a pastor,” Erdogan said in the Black Sea town of Unye.
“Shame on you, shame on you,” he said in remarks directly addressed to Washington.
“You are exchanging your strategic partner in Nato for a priest.”
Trump announced the punitive doubling of tariffs on Twitter, with the White House saying the sanctions would take effect from Aug 13.
In a second speech, this time in the Black Sea city of Rize, Erdogan ruled out any change in the country’s interest rates policy.
“Interest rates should be kept to a minimum because they are a tool of exploitation that makes the poor poorer and the rich richer,” he said.
The nominally independent central bank has defied pressure over the last few weeks to hike interest rates in the face of high inflation and a collapsing currency.
Erdogan has downplayed the currency crisis, urging Turks to convert any stashedaway gold or foreign currency into lira, thereby waging a “war of independence” against America.
Erdogan said high foreign exchange rates were being used as a weapon against Turkey.
“We know very well that the issue is not the dollar, the euro or gold.
“These are the bullets, cannonballs and missiles of an economic war waged against our country,” he said.
In an op-ed published in New York Times, Erdogan warned Washington not to risk its relations with Ankara, saying otherwise it would look for “new friends and allies”.
He had on Friday held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss economic and trade issues.
Erdogan said there would be no let up in Brunson’s case, vowing: “We have not made concessions on justice so far, and we will never make any.”– AFP