AFP, Washington :
The US warned Thursday it would levy more sanctions on the troubled Turkish economy if Ankara does not soon release a jailed American pastor described by President Donald Trump as a “hostage.”
Deepening a spat that has rattled financial markets and threated to split a long-standing defense and political alliance, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested the next spiral of tit-for-tat sanctions was coming soon.
“We have put sanctions on several of their cabinet members,” Mnuchin told President Donald Trump in a cabinet meeting attended by the press, including AFP.
“We have more that we are planning to do if they don’t release him quickly.”
Trump prefaced Mnuchin’s remarks by saying that Turkey had not been a very good friend to America.
Referring to imprisoned pastor Andrew Brunson, Trump said “they have a great Christian pastor there, he’s a very innocent man.”
He later tweeted that the Protestant clergyman, who has been detained since 2016 when he was arrested in a government crackdown following a failed coup bid, was a “great patriot” being held “hostage.”
Christian evangelicals constitute an important part of Trump’s political base.
The threat comes as Turkey sought to reassure investors rattled by the sanctions-fueled crash of the Turkish lira, insisting the country would emerge stronger.
Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressed hundreds of foreign investors from the United States, Europe and Asia via a conference call in a bid to soothe the markets.
The lira has clawed back some ground over the last two days – after losing almost a quarter of its value on Friday and Monday – but economists are warning that Turkey must urgently address its economic imbalances to avoid more troubles ahead.
