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Hours after a Turkish court decided to keep US pastor Andrew Brunson in jail on July 18, US President Donald Trump posted a message on Twitter about the case. "A total shame that Turkey is not releasing a respected American pastor, Andrew Brunson, from prison, he has been held hostage for too long. @RT_Erdogan should do something to free this wonderful husband and Christian father. did nothing wrong and his family needed him! "Trump tweeted
This post raises some questions about the case and the state of Turkish-American relations.
Brunson was imprisoned For the past 20 years he has been accused of being in contact with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the illegal network of Islamist preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused of orchestrating the attempt to 2016 state coup in Turkey Trump repeatedly asked Erdoğan for the release of Brunson.Erdoğan, each time, said that it was not up to him to do that but is the work of independent Turkish courts. "And each time Erdogan was asking Trump to extradite Gülen, or at least an action to prevent him from managing his network. Pennsylvania, Trump gave the same answer: Address independent courts.
Recently, Erdoğan received two US senators in Ankara who had asked the Trump administration to exclude Turkey from joint production of the new generation of F-35 fighter aircraft. not to be released. Trump and Erdoğan again spoke at the NATO summit on July 11 and on the phone before Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16.
Did Trump wait for Brunson's release because of these political contacts? The release of Brunson, if Trump seemed to facilitate it, would of course help the American president when he needed good news.
The second question is: What exactly does Trump want Erdoğan to do when he tells her? he should do something? Use his political influence on the court to get Brunson out? Would it be acceptable if millions of Turks want the courts to be free from outside influence? And, if so, does this mean that Trump can "do something" about Turkish demands on Gülen?
In fact, there is an agreement between Turkey and the United States on the exchange of criminals dating back to 1981, suggesting at least temporary arrest "for those who have arrest warrants against them. Would Trump think of using his power to initiate this if he can solve his internal problems with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)?
When it comes to using a lever political, as sanctions against Turkey, it is unlikely to help any matter.The Senate has badociated the case F-35 to the Turkish decision to buy the Russian S-400 for its defense but as a result of Turkish commitments to NATO while many European members were reluctant to make a larger contribution, Tina Kaidanow, They discussed the sale of patriots with the Turks.
Does it make sense to sell patriots to Turkey while trying to exclude the country from a project of armament of which he is co-producer? Speaking of influence, it might be useful to read between the speech lines of Spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hami Aksoy on July 19.
Aksoy's press conference was announced after Trump's tweet hit the media. Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
After repeating the standard line on Brunson and the independent courts, Aksoy said that the US administration should stop playing with time on a possible action regarding Gülen. He added that this point was clearly explained to the Americans at a meeting of the Joint Working Group in Ankara on July 13th. At the same press conference, Aksoy also listed Turkish contributions to NATO for Western security. However, a dispute arose when Trump sent a team to Ankara to ask Turkey to put in place sanctions against its Iranian neighbor, despite vital energy agreements between the two.
It might make too much sense for these words that if Trump can "do something" about Gülen, it could be highly reciprocal by Erdoğan
Murat Yetkin, Andrew Brunson, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Donald Trump [19659014]
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