Erdogan capitalizes on Trump’s effort to break and isolate Turkey
2018-08-20 10:13:26 source：The Washington Post
August 19, 2018
ISTANBUL — When President Trump tried to strong-arm Turkey into releasing a detained American pastor this month, he gambled that a barrage of punishing measures — market-rattling economic sanctions and humiliating public rebukes — would force President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to quickly relent.
That has not happened. More than three weeks after the crisis started, the pastor, Andrew Brunson, is still under house arrest in Turkey. And Erdogan, for the moment, appears unbowed.
As the Turkish currency swoons, Erdogan has focused domestic anger instead against the United States and portrayed his country as the victim of intentional sabotage — shifting attention from economic problems that analysts said his government has failed for years to adequately address.
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