Trump's Deal to Free a Pastor in Turkey Falls Off – And It's Even Worse

A very public diplomatic breakout erupted last week between the United States and Turkey over the fate of US pastor Andrew Brunson – who has been jailed by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the past 21 months.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who beat Erdogan in the fist at the NATO summit last month, apparently thought he had an agreement with the Turkish president. The Washington Post called it "a rifle shot" that would free a Turkish woman held in Israel as a compromise for Brunson's release.

The woman, Ebru Ozkan, was expelled from Israel on July 15. But the deal for Brunson has collapsed. He was allowed to go from a Turkish prison to a house arrest for health reasons, but he remains captive. And after what appears to have been an acrimonious phone call between Trump and Erdogan on Thursday morning, when Trump had to acknowledge that another of his agreements with foreign leaders was collapsing, things have come to an end. started to get really ugly.

Experts say that the consequences of Trump's "diplomacy Twitter" that threatens Erdogan with sanctions reduce the chance that Brunson will come home, and worsens the time spent in an already complex relationship.

Bulent Aliriza, Director Erdogan reacted negatively to the tweets and suggests that Brunson's freedom is now "less likely than before". Aliriza also says that the Erdogan government "is obviously digging in their heels" leading to a "very serious deterioration".

In a decision that may have blinded the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the midst of delicate negotiations for the freedom of Brunson (there are contradictory reports ), Vice President ] Mike Pence warned Thursday at a conference on religious freedom, which Pompeo was hosting, that Turkey would face significant sanctions if it continued to detain a son. Trump followed with his tweet demanding that Brunson be released "immediately."

"Nobody dictates to Turkey, we will never tolerate anyone's threats," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy wrote that "the rhetoric of the threat against Turkey is unacceptable" and that the messages from Washington "do not take into account our alliance and friendly relations between our two countries. "

the aftermath of public commentary by Trump and Pence.

"You can not roll back Turkey with sanctions," he said, referring directly to the United States in a speech on Sunday. "In my opinion, all this is [parts of] a psychological war … If the United States does not change this attitude, they should not forget that they will lose a sincere and strong partner like Turkey."

Brunson was arrested for the crime of "Christianization" in a predominantly Muslim country where the former militant secularism of the nation was eroded under the Islamist government of Erdogan and where proselytes Christians make Subject to increasing pressure. But that's not all. Charges were laid against him, making the pastor a hardened enemy of the state.

He is also accused of "spying" for the Kurdistan Workers Party and what Ankara calls the terrorist organization Fetullah. Former Erdogan ally, Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim educator and political organizer with millions of followers, was blamed for launching a miss in 2016 that nearly cost the president his life. Turkish as well as at his office. Thousands of arrests followed, sometimes on charges as specious as the possession of a US dollar bill.

Brunson has lived in Turkey for the past 25 years and raised his children there. His daughter Jacqueline Funari, in a moving speech Wednesday at the Pompeo conference, said how sad she was that her father had not been able to accompany her in her recent marriage. The only time she saw him in jail last year, she said, "I remember how broken, tired and desperate he was," but also how comforting he was in her faith. "It's a privilege to suffer for the love of Christ," she said, citing her father. "Blessed am I how I suffer for him, Blessed am I an I am slandered, blessed am I as I am lied, blessed am I as I am imprisoned, blessed am I as I share his suffering." [19659013] Get the beast in your inbox!

Subscribe