ANKARA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin slammed the United States for its "disregard" on Turkey's legal process in the case of a detained pastor, said local media Hurriyet Daily News on Thursday.
Kalin called on he United States to respect Turkey's judicial independence, one of the Ankara's most pointed responses yet to critisicim over its detention of a U.S. pastor, Andrew Brunson, said the report quoting a written statement to Reuters.
Kalin also criticized the U.S. over an investigation into state-owned lender Halkbank for potential Iran-sanctions evading scheme.
"It is unacceptable that certain baseless and false allegations are made against Halkbank to weaken this public bank," Kalin said.
His comments came after the U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton saying that Turkey made "big mistake" in not releasing Brunson, who is now under house arrest in Turkey over terrorism charges.
Bolton also said he was skeptical about the pledge of an investment of 15 billion U.S. dollars in support of Turkey by Qatar's emir, which was "utterly insufficient to have an impact on Turkey's economy."
