Erdogan just sent a not-so-subtle message to Trump about the Christian Pastor jailed in Turkey:
HURRIYET – President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on Western countries to extradite members of the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ) who have sought asylum but has avoided naming these countries, while noting that trials into the July 2016 coup plotters had begun in Ankara and Istanbul.
“I am calling out to the world: If you do not help us in extraditing [these people], you should know that you won’t be able to get those people you request from us in the future,” he told party deputies in parliament.
Erdogan is holding 48-year-old Pastor Andrew Brunson on phony terrorism charges, accusing him of being a Fethullah Gulen supporter after the phony coup attempt last July. They arrested Brunson in December.
Trump pushed Erdogan several times when he was here at the White House to release Brunson back to the US. Pence also made the case for his return.
I said at the time:
My only concern is that Erdogan won’t do it unless Trump turns over Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan called for his extradition while he was here and he’s evil enough to keep the Christian pastor in jail just to try and leverage Gulen.
Of course that is exactly what’s happening. In fact I believe that was the plan all along, to arrest Brunson and imprison him so Erdogan could use him to get Gulen extradited.
What’s even worse is when you consider that the coup itself was concocted by Erdogan and his minions just to get their hands on Gulen and to try and unite the country behind Erdogan ahead of the vote to make him Sultan. The Turkish Minute, a Gulen news site, has reported on court statements from at least one military prisoner who now testifies that he was tortured and coerced to give false testimony about the coup. They also report that a top military aide to Erdoğan who was arrested in the aftermath of the coup said “Erdoğan’s advisors used to make coup-related jokes before the putsch.”
All of this is Erdogan’s doing and this innocent Christian pastor was merely arrested so he could be used as extradition bait. And who knows what they are doing to him in prison there.
Erdogan is evil. And to quote one NBA star player with Turkish roots:
NBA star Enes Kanter calls Turkey's Erdoğan "the Hitler of our century": "I hope the world's going to do something." https://t.co/Y5u07KDMUI pic.twitter.com/Z2I2FVf59u
— ABC News (@ABC) May 22, 2017