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The United States has threatened Turkey with sanctions against the fall of a pastor suspected of terrorism and espionage. If local authorities do not take "immediate steps" to release the American religious Andrew Brunson and send him back to the United States, sanctions would be imposed "on a large scale," warned Vice President Mike Pence Thursday in Washington.
Although Brunson was unexpectedly released from a Turkish prison on Wednesday after almost two years in prison, he was placed under house arrest. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already criticized this point as "inadequate" on Wednesday
"Innocent Man"
Pence described the Protestant pastor as an "innocent" at a conference Department of the American State Department on Religious Freedom. He had sent a message from US President Donald Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pence said, "Free Pastor Andrew Brunson – or be prepared to bear the consequences."
A court in the western Turkish coastal Izmir had imposed in addition to house arrest an exit ban against Brunson, who continues to threaten 35 years of imprisonment. His trial is scheduled to start on October 12th.
The pastor is accused of having worked for the movement of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, based in the United States, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), banned. He rejects all the allegations. The pastor and his wife have run a small church in Izmir for more than two decades.
The relationship between Turkey and the United States is overwhelmed by a series of disputes. In addition to the human rights situation in Turkey, it is above all the refusal of the US government to extradite Gülen, as well as American military badistance to Syrian Kurds. Following Turkey's decision to buy S-400 anti-aircraft missiles to Russia, the US Congress also asked not to sell Ankara F35 fighter aircraft.
(APA / AFP)
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