The US Treasury’s Aug. 1 bombshell about sanctioning two key ministers in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Cabinet over the continued detention of North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson has spurred frenzied speculation about an imminent and irremediable rupture between the two NATO allies. How much worse can things get, and with neither side inclined to back down, what will it take to defuse the crisis?
The immediate effects of Treasury moves to freeze any US-based assets belonging to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and “generally prohibiting US persons from engaging in transactions with them” was to push the ailing Turkish lira to record lows against the dollar. Experts maintain the pair are the most senior officials sanctioned so far under the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016 punishing human rights abuse and corruption.