U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, during a cabinet meeting of President Donald Trump at the White House, threatened Ankara not test Washington’s resolve, emphasizing that the United States was ready to put further sanctions on Turkey if detained American pastor Andrew Brunson was not released. “As you know we were very clear with our counterparts there, both Secretary Pompeo and myself, on the release of the pastor. We have put sanctions on several of their Cabinet members. Working with you, we have more that we are planning to do if they don’t release him quickly,” U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin said.
In response to the American threat, Turkey’s Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin emphasized that ‘Turkey is not without alternatives in terms of energy and global affairs,’ while emphasizing that ‘Turkey has taken necessary measures in financial markets to shield it from a speculative attack, after the lira recovered from a record low of 7.24 to the dollar at the start of the week.’ “All public enterprises, central bank, public banks and private banks realised an action plan in coordination. Therefore the environment open to exploitation and speculation on Turkish lira is completely eliminated.” / “Within this framework, I would like to express that Turkey is not in favour of rising tensions with anyone. Turkey is not after getting into an economic war with anyone. We see that during this period the Turkish economy, which is integrated to the world economy with the rules of free market, gains strength and takes measures against possible attacks and threats,” Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
While Turkey tries to alleviate tensions with the United States without losing face of succumbing to Washington’s pressures, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement that “Turkey does not wish to have problems with the United States and the two NATO allies could easily overcome their differences but not with the current U.S. approach.” Meanwhile, Turkey has boosted its Security measures outside the house of pastor Andrew Brunson, where the Christian leader is detained – in what authorities claimed was to assure his safety during the trial proceedings.