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A Turkish court refused Tuesday to lift the house arrest of an American pastor accused of "terrorism" and "espionage" in a case that has sharply tended relations between Ankara and Washington, according to the agency
Pastor Andrew Brunson's lawyer asked Monday for his release and his ban on leaving the country was also lifted. But a court in Izmir (West) rejected the petitions Tuesday, according to Anadolu.
The American pastor was placed under house arrest last Wednesday after spending more than a year and a half in pre-trial detention.
Andrew Brunson was arrested in October 2016 as part of the purges launched by Ankara in the aftermath of the failed coup of July of the same year.
He is accused by the Turkish authorities of having acted on behalf of the network of preacher Fethullah Gülen to whom Ankara accuses, despite the denials of the latter, the failed coup, but also that of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK, Kurdish rebels).
These two organizations are considered "terrorists" by the Turkish authorities.
Pastor Brunson, who has been living in Turkey for about 20 years and was leading a small Protestant church in Izmir before his arrest, denies the charges in their entirety.
This affair It has helped to stretch relations between Ankara and Washington, with US President Donald Trump having called several times for his release.
The tension mounted a notch last week when Trump and his Vice President Mike Pence warned Turkey against "heavy sanctions" if the pastor was not released.
But his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan countered by saying that he could not "force Turkey to back down with sanctions. "
US threats are" absolutely unacceptable, "Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Tuesday, adding that if the United States carries out its threat of sanctions, Ankara" would take action retaliation "
M. Kalin, who did not elaborate on this point, however, stressed that the current tensions between the two countries should not affect the parallel patrols conducted by Turkish and American military in the city of Minbej, in northern Syria
Turkey and the United States are in a state of great dissension, with Ankara accusing Washington of its support for a Syrian Kurdish militia and the refusal of American justice to extradite Fethullah Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania.
On the other hand, the incarceration by Turkey of two local employees of the US missions and the placing under house arrest of a third helped to bring the bilateral relations closer.
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