Turkish municipality strikes at social media giants as response to US

UŞAK

The municipality of the western Turkish province of Uşak has announced it stopped running digital advertisement on Google, Facebook and other United States-based social media platforms as a response to the U.S. sanctions on Turkey.

“Following the political crisis between our country and the U.S., we have cancelled all of our budget for Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube in our media planning,” the Uşak municipality announced Aug. 11 on Twitter.

The statement was followed by a tweet by Uşak Mayor Nurullah Cahan, who vowed to "win against the enemies who surrounded all sides” of Turkey.

“Stability will continue, Turkey will keep growing. We will not bow down to threats,” Cahan said.

Turkish officials held meetings on Aug. 8 with the State Department’s No. 2 official, John Sullivan, following a move by the U.S. to hit two senior Turkish government ministers with sanctions over the detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson.

While the two sides stated that the talks will continue, U.S. President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on imports from Turkey as the Turkish Lira continued to tumble on Aug. 10.