ANKARA – President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said an attack on Turkey’seconomy was no different from a strike against its flag or call to prayer,responding to a recent currency sell-off in religious and nationalist termsahead of a major Muslim holiday.

In a pre-recorded address to mark the four-day Eid al-Adha festival, whichstarts on Tuesday, a defiant Erdogan said the aim of the currency crisiswas to bring “Turkey and its people to their knees”.

The lira has tumbled some 40 percent this year, hit by worries aboutErdogan’s influence over monetary policy and a worsening diplomatic riftwith the United States. The sell-off has spread to other emerging marketcurrencies and global stocks in recent weeks.

“The attack on our economy has absolutely no difference from attacks on ourcall to prayer and our flag. The goal is the same. The goal is to bringTurkey and the Turkish people to their knees, to take it prisoner,” Erdogansaid in the televised address.

“Those who think they can make Turkey give in with the exchange rate willsoon see that they are mistaken,” he said.

Erdogan stopped short of directly naming any countries or institutions, buthe has, in the past, blamed the currency sell-off on a shadowy “interestrate lobby”, Western ratings agencies and financiers.

Amid the period of tense relations between Ankara and Washington, severalgunshots were fired on Monday from a vehicle at the U.S. Embassy in theTurkish capital, causing no casualties. Reuters