Erdogan warns Turkey will not be cowed by US

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared yesterday that his country would not be cowed by the United States, his latest broadside in the bitter feud between Ankara and Washington. The two NATO members are at odds over Turkey’s detention of an American pastor, which has triggered a trade row and sent the local currency the lira into a tailspin.

“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 said at a congress of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). “Some people threaten us with economy, sanctions, foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and inflation. We know your shenanigans and we will defy you.”