Turkey won't surrender over US pastor issue: MHP leader

By Burcu Calik

ANKARA

Turkey will not surrender on the issue of U.S. pastor, said the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Friday.

Referring to the row between Ankara and Washington after the detention of the U.S pastor Andrew Brunson, Devlet Bahceli said: “Those who expect Turkey to be drowned in a swirl of foreign currency, interest, debt and inflation will be disappointed.”

He was speaking in capital Ankara.

Turkey and the U.S. are currently experiencing rocky relations following Washington’s imposition of sanctions over the detention of Brunson, who is under house arrest in Turkey over terrorism charges.

Brunson's charges include spying for the PKK -- listed as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Turkey -- and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup attempt in Turkey of July 2016.

Political tensions between the two countries had sparked worries in markets this month, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to use economic pressure over an American pastor who faces terrorism-related charges in Turkey.

Stating that Washington's recent actions against Turkey are against the international law, Bahceli said: “Despite this, Turkey becomes one against the attacks.”