Turkey accuses US of ‘stab in back’

Moves to ease Turkey’s economic woes have failed to stop market turmoil as the country’s row with the US deepens. Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Monday that the US was seeking to “stab it in the back”.

The US last week imposed sanctions on Turkey over its refusal to extradite a US preacher imprisoned in the country. Erdogan said, “You act on one side as a strategic partner, but on the other, you fire bullets into the foot of your strategic partner.

“We are together in Nato and then you seek to stab your strategic partner in the back.”