It’s being reported now that US officials are seriously considering sanctions against Turkey for unjustly imprisoning an American Christian Pastor that we’ve been reporting on since his abduction in 2016:
BLOOMBERG – U.S. patience is wearing thin over Turkey’s nearly two-year-long imprisonment of an American priest.
With a judge ordering Presbyterian Pastor Andrew Brunson back to jail on Monday, U.S. officials are considering retaliation against what they see as a policy of “hostage diplomacy” by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. The case is one of a trio of issues that could trigger unprecedented U.S. sanctions against a NATO ally, likely to be modeled on those imposed on Russia.
The “sham trial involving Dr. Andrew Brunson, filled with secret witnesses and conspiracy theories, is further proof of the deterioration of the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey,” Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said in a tweet after the hearing. “Congress stands ready to take action, including sanctions, if Brunson is not released.”
Brunson, 50, a native of North Carolina and resident of Turkey for 23 years, has been imprisoned in a remote town on Turkey’s Aegean coast since October 2016, when he was among tens of thousands swept up in the aftermath of a July coup attempt. The charges aired against him in court are numerous, ranging from working to establish a Kurdish-Christian state to supporting Islamic and Kurdish terrorist groups, to espionage and attempting to create chaos.
I really hope this is true and that it’s not just coming from Congress, but also the administration. Just as Trump has been tough with N. Korea and Iran, we now need him to be tough with Turkey over Brunson.
How far they can go I’m not sure given the US presence and reported nukes in a Turkish air base. But I’d honestly like to see us vacate that air base and begin throttling Turkey with sanctions until they agree to release Brunson.
From the day he was arrested in Turkey, it’s been clear that Erdogan is using Brunson as a pawn in his plans to get the US to extradite Gulen. He even said as much last September. But thankfully, it hasn’t worked and now that Brunson’s trial is going badly, it’s time to get serious with sanctions.
Trump, Pence, and Tillerson have all asked Erdogan to release Brunson. They’ve given him time to comply and I think it’s long past time for the US to begin trying to force Erdogan’s hand or let his country suffer the consequences.