'The U.S.’s sanctions against Turkey’s Interior minister Süleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül should be responded to in kind,' says Yeni Şafak Editor-In-Chief
Yeni Şafak Editor-In-Chief İbrahim Karagül stressed that Turkey urgently needs to halt all joint initiatives with the U.S. and close down the Incirlik Air Base as a response to the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to impose sanctions on the Justice Minister and Interior Minister.
Ibrahim Karagül’s 11-point call for action came after the Brunson crisis and U.S threats against Turkey.
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders had said the U.S. would impose sanctions on Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül for not releasing American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who faces terrorism charges in Turkey.
Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, was indicted on charges of having links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which Ankara blames for the failed coup in 2016. He was transferred to house arrest on July 25.
1- The U.S. has attacked Turkey and killed hundreds of thousands of our people through the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other terrorist organizations for 40 years.
2- It has attacked Turkey openly; attempted an occupation, civil war and assassination of our country’s president by using FETÖ terrorists on July 15.
3- The U.S. wants to restrain Turkey on its own orbit by taking it hostage and when Turkey refuses this, they try to drive it into a corner by using threats, sanctions and blackmail.
4- The U.S. tries to plot Turkey’s rapprochement with emerging powers such as Russia and China. Turkey’s new economic initiatives with these powers worry them.
5- The U.S.’s sanctions against Turkey’s Interior minister Süleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül should be responded to in kind.
6- The new world is being built and it doesn’t consist of the U.S. alone.
7- The strategic alliance of Turkey and the U.S. has come to an end. There is no moral ground of this alliance relationship anymore.
8- The U.S. has become the biggest threat to Turkey.
9- While this fact is blatant, all the initiatives to build an alliance with the U.S. again are now a crime.
10- The military bases of the U.S. – that have murdered thousands of our people, and threatened our country explicitly- should be shut down immediately, especially Incirlik Air Base.
11- Turkey should never step back against the U.S. sanctions and the U.S. must be declared as a threat to Turkey.
