Sonntag, 05.08.2018 / 00:57 Uhr

US-Sanktionen gegen die Türkei

Von
Aus dem Netz

Über Folgen für und Reaktionen aus der Türkei auf die von US-Präsidenten Donald Trump verhängten Sanktionen:

Ibrahim Karagul, the editor-in-chief of pro-Islamist and fervently anti-American Yeni Safak, summed up the general sentiment in a hastily penned article after Washington announced its sanctions.

Accusing the United States of being behind the abortive coup in 2016 and an attempt to assassinate Erdogan during that time, among other things, Karagul asserted that the strategic partnership with America was over now that the country “had become the greatest threat to Turkey.”

Karagul also called on the strategic Incirlik air base in southeastern Turkey, where forces have been deployed for decades — and from which they conduct operations in Syria today — to be immediately closed to US forces.

The pro-government Daily Sabah argued that Washington’s sanctions were part of a US plan to force the Turkish economy to collapse. As proof, it pointed to the dramatic recent drop in the Turkish lira’s value against the dollar. Sabah’s editorial asserted, “Those who have been unable to force Turkey to its knees politically are trying to do this with ugly economic attacks and the threat of sanctions.”

The lira continued its dramatic downward spiral after the sanctions were announced.

Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, the chairman of the Turkish-US Business Council, issued a written statement in response to Washington’s sanctions against Ankara. Referring to the decision as a “heavy political intervention both in terms of Turkish-US relations and … of a legal process in Turkey,” Yalcindag characterized it as “unacceptable” as the countries are NATO allies.

Turkey’s business community is clearly concerned over the latest developments.