U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would impose significant sanctions on Turkey over the detention of American Christian pastor Andrew Brunson.
Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, was indicted on charges of helping the group that Ankara holds responsible for a failed 2016 coup against President Tayyip Erdogan. He faces up to 35 years in prison.
Immediately afterwards the statements of Vice President Mike Pence about possible sanctions on Turkey, Trump wrote on Twitter that the U.S. “will impose large sanctions on Turkey.”
“The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their longtime detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!” Trump tweeted.
The statements of Trump and Pence prompted a decline in Turkey’s financial markets which has been very fragile since the 2016 failed coup attempt.
On Tuesday, Brunson was released from the prison and placed under house arrest.
U.S. and Turkish officials had been working on a deal that would lead to Brunson’s release, and Washington had expected him to be freed at his trial last week, a source in the United States familiar with developments told Reuters on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke on the telephone amid the escalating row over detained pastor Andrew Brunson, according to Turkish foreign ministry source.
Earlier in the day, Cavusoglu said Ankara doesn’t tolerate “threats.”
“We will never tolerate threats from anybody. The rule of law is for everyone; no exception,” he said.
His comment came immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sanctions would be imposed on Turkey because of an American pastor detained on terror and espionage charges.
Ibrahim Kalin, a top-advisor of Erdogan, also warns the United States to “reconsider its approach and adopt a constructive position before inflicting further damage to its interests and its alliance with Turkey.”
The pastor had been put in a Turkish jail for threatening national security by allegedly having ties to the organisers of the July 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Brunson and his wife have been living in the Turkish town of Izmir for nearly 20 years.
All accusations against Brunson are based on three secret witness statements. No substantial evidence shows that the pastor is a member of the group (Gulenist movement) responsible for the failed coup.
The Region has obtained a top-secret document of Turkey’s Secretariat of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) that reveals the details of the investigation of the American pastor, Andrew Brunson. According to the document, he was arbitrarily arrested based on orders, not evidence.
According to the document, the investigation of Brunson provided no material evidence that can imply the pastor’s “membership of the Gulenist movement”, however, his detention was requested by the unnamed chiefs.
Washington has called for Brunson’s release while Erdogan suggested last year his fate could be linked to that of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose extradition Ankara has repeatedly sought to face charges over the coup attempt.
“‘Give us the pastor back,’ they say. You have one pastor [Gulen] as well. Give him to us,” Erdogan said in a speech on September 28 at the presidential palace. “Then we will try and give him [Brunson] to you.”
Erdogan has the power to authorise such a swap: A state of emergency decree issued in August 2017, gave the President the final word over the extradition or exchange of foreign nationals detained in Turkey.