President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said Saturday that
he was ordering reciprocal sanctions against two American officials in
retaliation for United States measures against two of his ministers, escalating
a diplomatic wrangle between the NATO allies.
“Those who think that they can make Turkey take a step back
with ridiculous sanctions have never known this country or this nation,” Mr.
Erdogan said in a speech in the capital, Ankara. “We have never bowed our heads
to such pressure and will never do so.”
The Turkish action came after the White House announced
sanctions freezing the assets of the Turkish interior and justice ministers
this past week, in protest against Turkey’s detention of an American pastor,
Andrew Brunson.
Mr. Erdogan said he would order his government to “freeze
the assets” in Turkey of the American counterparts of the targeted Turkish
officials, describing them as “the U.S. justice and interior ministers.” Such
an order would be largely symbolic. It’s unclear whether American officials
would have assets in Turkey.
The United States has sought the release of Mr. Brunson, 50,
who leads the evangelical Resurrection Church in the city of Izmir, since his
detention 21 months ago on charges of espionage and assisting terrorist groups.
American officials say Mr. Brunson is innocent and is being held by the Turkish
government as a bargaining chip to leverage its interests in American court
cases.
Vice President Mike Pence has taken up the case of the
pastor, as have several American senators, describing him as a prisoner of conscience.
President Trump has raised the case personally with Mr. Erdogan, including in a
phone call.
The case is just one of a litany of disagreements between
Turkey and the United States, including American support for Kurdish fighters
in Syria, and the United States’ refusal to extradite the American-based
Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Mr. Erdogan of instigating the 2016
coup attempt against the Turkish president.
Washington has been angered by Turkey’s detention of 20
American citizens, including Mr. Brunson, and three employees of American
consulates in Turkey, calling it hostage diplomacy. Another point of friction
is Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile system, which flies in the face of
cooperation within NATO.
Mr. Erdogan, who amassed sweeping new powers with his
re-election in June to an enhanced presidential system, has maintained his
popularity with strong nationalist, anti-American rhetoric. He has frequently
blamed Turkey’s growing economic problems on a foreign plot, but few political
analysts say he is ready to break Turkey’s alliance with the United States and
with NATO.
Still, his constant sparring over multiple issues has tested
relations with Europe, NATO and Washington.
Negotiations over Mr. Brunson seemed to have failed last
month when a Turkish court ordered his continued detention. His conditions were
eased to house arrest after American protests. Mr. Brunson wept as he described
suffering psychological difficulties in detention during an earlier hearing.
His trial is set to continue in October.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced financial
sanctions against Abdulhamit Gul, Turkey’s justice minister, and Suleyman
Soylu, the interior minister. Both are seen as acolytes of Mr. Erdogan.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the use of sanctions
against a NATO ally was a signal of how seriously the United States regarded
Turkey’s actions.
“The Turks were well on notice that the clock had run out
and that it was time for Pastor Brunson to be returned. I hope they’ll see this
for what it is: a demonstration that we’re very serious,” Mr. Pompeo told
reporters Friday on his way to a Southeast Asia security conference in
Singapore.
Mr. Pompeo made the appeal ahead of his meeting with Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the conference, after
previously pressing the case at least three times by phone.
Mr. Cavusoglu responded after their meeting by saying that
harsh tactics by the United States would not work, according to the
semiofficial Anadolu news agency.
“Since the beginning, we have been saying that a solution
cannot be reached by using threatening language and sanctions,” Mr. Cavusoglu
was quoted as saying. “Today we repeated that. And we believe that is
understood very well.”
In his speech on Saturday, Mr. Erdogan said that the United
States had taken steps that did not suit the strategic partnership between the
two countries. “America has been seriously disrespectful against Turkey with
that step,” he said.
“It is absolutely impossible to accept such an approach
against my ministers who do not have any assets in the U.S.,” Mr. Erdogan said.
Mr. Erdogan also complained that the United States was
defending Mr. Brunson, whom he accused of having relations with the Gulen
movement and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, both designated terrorist
organizations in Turkey. Mr. Brunson has denied the charges.
He also complained that the United States had convicted
Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy director of the state-owned Halkbank, for
having a role in conspiring to violate American sanctions against Iran, and was
pursuing further cases against the bank.
Political analysts have suggested in recent news reports
that American and Turkish officials were working out a deal for the release of
Mr. Brunson in return for Mr. Atilla, but that Turkey had stalled at the last
minute.
But Mr. Erdogan cast the latest sanctions as an imperial
plot, in familiar rousing rhetoric that is popular among his conservative,
nationalist followers. “This is the manifestation of only an evangelist and
Zionist approach,” he said.
CULLED FROM NEW YORK TIMES
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