Turkish minister reacts to US sanctions move by 'property' remark

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu reacted to a U.S. move to impose sanctions on him and the country's justice minister in a Twitter post on Thursday.

"We have a property in America: FETO. We will not leave it there. We will get it," Soylu wrote on his official Twitter account.

Soylu's remarks came a day after White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said the U.S. would impose sanctions on Soylu, and Abdulhamit Gul, the justice minister, for not releasing American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who faces terrorism charges in Turkey.

Sanders said the U.S. would block "any property, or interest in property of the two ministers".

Justice Minister Gul said Wednesday he does not own any property or have money outside Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday strongly protested against U.S. Treasury Department's decision, calling on the U.S. administration to reverse its "wrong decision".

Brunson has been charged with spying for the PKK -- a designated terrorist group in the U.S. and Turkey -- and U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey which martyred 251 people and injured thousands.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.