President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will not bow to threats fueled by an “evangelist and Zionist mentality” in the U.S., as the diplomatic crisis between the two NATO members over the fate of a detained American pastor showed no signs of abating.

“We will continue on our road that we believe in, without making the slightest concession from our freedom, independence and judicial independence,” Erdogan said, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. “No one will gain anything by threatening us.”