Underlining doubts over the threats, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as dismissing them as “quips” over the week- end, while the country’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva called a possible EU arms embargo “a joke”. In turn, US president Donald Trump said on Twitter that “big sanctions on Turkey are coming”. Turkish stocks and bonds also tumbled, with the main share index at its lowest level since June. The intervention, now in its sixth day, has drawn international condemnation, including threats from Mr Trump to “obliterate” Turkey’s economy with “powerful” sanctions. Last week, US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Mr Trump had authorised “very powerful” sanctions targeting Turkey, to which Turkey said it would retaliate in kind.

Source: Irish Examiner October 15, 2019 05:15 UTC