By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) – A spokesman for the UN Secretary General said Friday the international body trusts Washington and Ankara to resolve an ongoing row.
“This is a bilateral matter and we trust and expect that the two countries will be able to resolve it bilaterally, ” Farhan Haq told reporters.
Earlier this week, a Turkish delegation returned from Washington with no movement on the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who is under house arrest in Turkey for terrorism charges.
Brunson's charges include spying for the PKK — listed as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Turkey — and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the defeated coup attempt in Turkey of July 2016.
Turkey and the U.S. are currently experiencing rocky relations following Washington’s imposition of sanctions on Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul for not releasing Brunson.
In a recent move, Trump announced that the U.S. has doubled aluminium and steel import tariffs on Turkey, fixing them at 20 percent and 50 percent respectively.
*Betul Yuruk contributed to this report from the United Nations
