Turkey is continuing to receive foreign support for its stance against the United States during the recent crisis between Washington and Ankara.
Organizers in Senegal launched a campaign on social media on Monday to support Turkey and its economy. They shared a list of 30 Turkish brands, including Turkish Airlines, urging people to support them as much as they can. They also called for a boycott of American brands.
"If Turkey is solid and strong, the entire Muslim world is too. Allah is with Turkey. We are with Turkey. We all pray to Allah to end Turkey's distress," said Mohammad Yousef, a Senegalese man who supports the campaign. "Through this simple campaign, we are showing our solidarity with the Turkish people against these artificial U.S. sanctions."
Relations between Ankara and Washington have been rocky since the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey's interior and justice ministers last week after Ankara refused to release American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who is under house arrest in Turkey facing terrorism-related charges. Last Friday, President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Turkey.
The U.S. media said the decision was related to the current state of Turkish-American relations and the Brunson case.
Daesh-free al-Bab sideS
with Turkish people
The Senegalese were not the only ones that showed their support to Turkey. In Syria's northern town of al-Bab, which was purged of terrorists with Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016, the locals are supporting the Turkish economy by converting their foreign-currency holdings into Turkish lira.
Yesterday, residents of the town, located in the north of Syria's northwestern Aleppo province, organized a demonstration of support for Turkey outside a local foreign exchan
ge (forex) office.
Demonstrators waved Turkish flags and held placards reading, "Supporting the lira is wajib [i.e., a moral obligation]. You put down the [2016] coup; you will win the economic war being waged against you" and "The merchants of northern Aleppo are with you,"
The demonstrators, were of course, referring to the Turkish people who managed to overthrow the July 15 coup attempt of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in 2016.
Some of them were accompanied by their children as they chanted, "Turkey and Syria are one."
Sharif Abo, who came to the event, waving a Turkish flag, to buy Turkish lira, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he is converting his foreign currency to show support for the Turkish economy.
Asserting that support for Turkey's currency would continue, he added, "As Syrians, we dedicate our property, lives and spirits to Turkey."
The 10-year-old demonstrator Esra Osman, for her part, told reporters, "We children don't have any foreign money to help with, but we can pray. May Allah protect the Turkish people and their leaders!"
Al-Bab, an important crossroads and settle
ment in northeastern Aleppo province, was liberated from four years of cruel Daesh rule on Feb. 22, 2017 by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters. The efforts were part of Operation Euphrates Shield launched on Aug. 24, 2016, to clear the terrorist group from Turkey's border regions.
Civilians living in Operation Euphrates Shield's area-of-operations previously launched the "Support Turkey and the Turkish lira" movement in May.
Stability in Turkey important
for Iraqi Turkmens
Iraqi Turkmens also expressed their support, saying yesterday that Turkey has a strong economy and will not be affected by current pressures against the country.
"Stability of the Turkish fiscal structure means stability of the Middle East economy," Aydın Maruf, a member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), told AA. "The Iraqi Turkmens fully support the Turkish economy."
Maruf reiterated that Turkey would survive the ongoing pressures against the country. The Turkmen lawmaker said that Turkey's economic and political development has annoyed some countries.
"The U.S. embargo aims to create a political pressure, but they will fail," he said, stressing that the Iraqi Turkmens have always stood by Turkey.
"The U.S-imposed pressure and sanctions on Turkey have distressed all parties," he expressed, highlighting that Turkey is a significant country in the Middle East.
"They [Turks] have always taken a firm stance in support of the oppressed people and communities in the region... Turkey is an important country for all the oppressed ethnic groups in the Middle East, not only for us [Turkmens]," he said. "The stability of the Turkish economy means financial stability in the Middle East. The political stability in Turkey is equivalent to political stability in the Middle East."
On Monday, several other states - including Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Lebanon and Azerbaijan - voiced their support to Turkey and opposed Trump's unilateral actions against the country.