Erdogan greets Turkish lawmakers with fire, fury as parliament convenes
The Turkish president opened the parliamentary session with renewed antagonism toward the United States and the Kurdish militants it's aligned with in Syria and Iraq, dashing hopes that Turkey's economic difficulties had tempered his aggression.
Turkey’s all-powerful President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the inaugural session of the country’s recently defanged parliament today, throwing punches at the United States and vowing to wipe out Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq and to further cooperation with Russia and the European Union. The speech dispelled any illusions that Erdogan, tempered by Turkey’s ailing economy, may be shifting course in any meaningful manner or anytime soon.
His salvoes against Washington over its continued partnership with Syrian Kurdish militias and what he called the unlawful case against Turkish state lender Halkbank over its central role in busting US sanctions against Iran bode ill for Andrew Brunson, the North Carolina pastor being held in a Turkish prison on outlandish terror and espionage charges.
“The Halkbank case is an example of unlawfulness. We are determined to combat within the bounds of law and diplomacy this warped mindset that uses a priest being prosecuted for his shadowy links with terrorist organizations as a pretext to impose sanctions [on Turkey],” Erdogan thundered. He was referring to Washington’s decision to double aluminum and steel tariffs and to freeze the US assets of Turkey’s justice and interior ministers in retaliation for what the Donald Trump administration and Congress label political hostage-taking by Ankara.
The exact number of US citizens being held by Turkey remains unclear but they include NASA physicist Serkan Golge, who is accused of involvement in the failed 2016 coup based on testimony from a disgruntled relative. Three Turkish nationals working for US diplomatic missions are also being held on terror charges.
