Erdoğan accuses US of seeking to stab Turkey 'in the back'

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday accused the United States of seeking to stab Turkey "in the back" over a diplomatic row sparked by the detention of an American pastor that has sent the lira into a tailspin.

"You act on one side as a strategic partner but on the other you fire bullets into the foot of your strategic partner," Erdoğan told a conference in the capital Ankara.

"We are together in NATO and then you seek to stab your strategic partner in the back. Can such a thing be accepted?" Erdoğan asked.
"TURKISH ECONOMY IS SOLID, STRONG": ERDOĞAN
Turkey has "solid and strong" economic dynamics in the face of the recent "economic siege" on the country, the Turkish president said on Monday.

"Turkey's economic dynamics are solid, strong and intact, and they will continue to be intact," Erdoğan told Turkish ambassadors in an address at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his attack on Turkey by raising U.S. tariffs on Turkish aluminum and steel imports to 20 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

"Turkey is under siege in the economy, as in other areas," said Erdoğan in his address.

Relations between the countries soured after Trump threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey over American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who was arrested in the Aegean province of Izmir in December 2016.

Brunson was charged with committing crimes, including 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 of July 2016.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking 15 years in prison for Brunson for committing crimes on behalf of terrorist groups without being a member, with up to 20 years for political or military espionage.