‘We will defy you’ Erdogan tells US amid tariffs dispute

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was reelected chief of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Saturday, told the party’s congress his government will not bend to US economic pressure.

“We will not surrender to those who present themselves as a strategic partner while at the same time trying to make us a strategic target,” Erdogan told members and supporters attending the party’s sixth annual congress in Ankara on Saturday.

“Some people threaten us with economy, sanctions, foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and inflation. We know your shenanigans and we will defy you,” he added.

The NATO allies are locked in a tariffs dispute over the ongoing detention of US pastor Andrew Brunson, who Turkey is holding under house arrest in Izmir on terrorism charges.

Ankara raised tariffs on a raft of imported US products, including fruit, rice, alcoholic drinks, tobacco, make-up, plastics, and vehicles by as much as 140 percent last Wednesday.

The measures, signed off by Erdogan, came in response to similar US tariffs on steel (up 50 percent) and aluminum (up 20 percent) imposed earlier last week.

The US move caused the lira to nosedive against the dollar. The struggling currency has since slightly improved.

Washington imposed these measures to pressure Ankara to free Brunson. A court in Izmir rejected the latest appeal for his release on Wednesday.

Turkey accuses Brunson, who has been held in detention for two years, of fostering ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and FETO and of involvement in the attempted coup of 2016. Brunson denies the allegations, and no evidence has been presented to substantiate the claims.

Observers believe Brunson is being held hostage by the Turkish state, which hopes to exchange him for Muhammed Fethullah Gulen – the US-based Turkish cleric accused by Ankara of plotting the 2016 coup.

US courts, which are independent of the executive, have refused to extradite Gulen.

During his address to the AKP congress, Erdogan also repeated his intention to continue military operations to push the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), back from Turkey’s southern border.

Ankara considers the YPG and the PYD to be branches of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“Turkey will continue cross-border operations by expanding them further,” Erdogan said, according to the state-owned Anadolu Agency.

“We will do what we previously did in Jarabulus, Al-Bab, Afrin along our border starting from Suruc to Cizre,” he added, referring to Syrian territory to the east of the Euphrates River controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

‘We will defy you’ Erdogan tells US amid tariffs dispute

Family Awaits Return of Abducted Father in Hasaka

Iran reports oil tanker explosion after warning against route deviation in Strait of Hormuz

100-year-old local serves as Kurdistan Region’s very own ‘Guardian of the Trees’

Related Articles

Family Awaits Return of Abducted Father in Hasaka

Iran reports oil tanker explosion after warning against route deviation in Strait of Hormuz

100-year-old local serves as Kurdistan Region’s very own ‘Guardian of the Trees’