ANKARA – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Saturday that hiscountry would not be cowed by the United States, his latest broadside inthe bitter feud between Ankara and Washington.

The two NATO members are at odds over Turkey s detention of an Americanpastor, which has triggered a trade row and sent the local currency thelira into a tailspin.

“We will not surrender to those who present themselves as a strategicpartner while at the same time trying to make us a strategic target,”Erdogan said at a congress of his ruling Justice and Development Party(AKP).

“Some people threaten us with economy, sanctions, foreign currency exchangerates, interest rates and inflation. We know your shenanigans and we willdefy you.”

At the end of congress, delegates unanimously re-elected Erdogan as head ofthe AKP, the state news agency Anadolu reported.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said he had doubled the tariffs onaluminium and steel tariffs from Turkey, prompting Ankara to sharply hiketariffs on several US products.

And Turkey on Friday threatened to respond in kind if Washington imposedfurther sanctions, while a court rejected another appeal to free pastorAndrew Brunson, who has been held for almost two years on terror charges.

The lira has nosedived against the dollar, dropping as much as 20 percenton one day last week. It sunk to a low of well over seven to the dollarearlier this week but was trading at just over six to the dollar on Friday– a loss of 40 percent since the start of the year.

The collapse of the currency has been blamed both on the tensions with theUnited States and Erdogan s increasing hold on Turkey s economy and hisrefusal to allow the central bank to raise interest rates.

Meanwhile, Erdogan told the AKP congress that Turkey would press on withand expand its cross-border military operations.

Turkey sent troops into northern Syria two years ago to fight against theKurdish People s Protection Units (YPG).

The YPG forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), theKurdish-Arab alliance that has received extensive backing from the US-ledcoalition in the battle agains the Islamic State group.

But Turkey accuses the YPG of being the Syrian branch of the KurdistanWorkers Party (PKK), a rebel group blacklisted by Ankara and its Westernallies.

The Turkish army has also increased its strikes against PKK rear bases inthe north of Iraq in the past few months. – APP/AFP