President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday that Turkey would boycott American electronic devices, continuing an escalation of tensions with the United States and putting to the test the Turkish lira, which seemed to stabilize, however.
"We are going to apply a boycott against US electronics," Erdogan said in a fierce speech in Ankara. "If they have iPhone, there are Samsung on the other side," he added. These statements come as Washington and Ankara go through a diplomatic crisis that led these two allies in NATO to impose mutual sanctions in August. These tensions, as well as Erdogan's growing hold on the Turkish economy, have led to a collapse of the pound in recent days, which has caused concern over European and Asian stock markets that fear a contagious effect. But the Turkish currency, which lost 16% of its value against the dollar on Friday and some 8% Monday, was back on Tuesday. At 1400 GMT, 6.54 pounds
traded for one dollar, a gain of 5% on the day. The Turkish head of state, known for his pugnacious style, put this monetary crisis on account of a "plot" hatched in Washington. Turkey "is the target of economic aggression," said Tuesday Erdogan, calling on his fellow citizens to abandon the iPhone, the flagship telephone device of the US brand Apple, for the Turkish brand Vestel. Apple products are widely used in Turkey, including by Erdogan himself: during the coup attempt in July 2016, he made an appeal to his supporters via FaceTime, a feature developed by Apple. "Chaos"
