Turkey retaliated on Saturday to US sanctions against two of its ministers by freezing the assets of two American officials, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday.
Speaking in Ankara, he said Turkey had been "patient" since the US Treasury sanctions were imposed against the justice and interior ministers on Wednesday, but ordered authorities to "freeze the assets of America's justice and interior ministers in Turkey, if there are any."
He did not specify to which members of the US administration he was referring.
The US attorney general is Jeff Sessions and while the United States does not have an interior ministry similar to Turkey, the Secretary of the Interior is Ryan Zinke and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is Kirstjen Nielsen.
Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul mocked the sanctions against them this week, saying they have no assets in the US, but the deteriorating Turkish-American relations sent the value of Turkey's national currency — the lira— tumbling.
Erdogan called the sanctions "serious disrespect toward Turkey" and accused the US of hypocrisy for demanding the release of evangelical pastor Andrew Craig Brunson while its ally Turkey tries him over alleged links to terror groups.
Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for decades, was jailed in December 2016 and is now under home detention. He is facing a 35-year sentence if convicted of the charges of "committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member" and espionage.
Top US officials, including President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, have said there's no evidence against Brunson and demanded his release.
Despite the announcement of sanctions, Erdogan called for a return to the two country's partnership.
"We think there is no problem we cannot solve with the American administration," he said, urging Trump's government to drop its "hot-tempered attitude and return to its good senses."
"We don't want to be a party to lose-lose games. Moving political and judicial disputes into an economic dimension will be harmful for both sides," Erdogan said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who discussed the issue with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday, said he was "hopeful" of progress in the "days and weeks to come".
"Although it is unlikely the sanctions will have much practical effect in either case, it is significant and unprecedented that two NATO allies have sanctioned members of each other's government," Amanda Sloat, a former State Department official and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told AFP.
"There is a risk of more sanctions to come... which could hit more directly at the heart of Turkish government interests and which have the potential to cause a run on the lira," Anthony Skinner, director of Middle East and North Africa at risk management consultants Verisk Maplecroft, told AFP.
He said the "Achilles' heel" of Turkey's fragile economy was its exposure to foreign portfolio investments and credit.
