Turkey won’t bow to US – Erdogan

OVER US PASTOR: JAILED FOR ‘AIDING TERROR GROUPS’

US threatens sanctions if the pastor, whom it insists is innocent, is not freed.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the US yesterday that sanctions would not force Ankara to “step back” after President Donald Trump threatened to punish Turkey if a US pastor was not freed.

“You cannot make Turkey take a step back with sanctions,” Erdogan said in his first comments since relations soured after Trump threatened the measures on Thursday if Pastor Andrew Brunson was not released.

“The US should not forget that it could lose a strong and sincere partner like Turkey if it does not change its attitude,” he was quoted as saying by Hurriyet daily.

Relations between the Nato allies have worsened over the jailing of Brunson, who ran a Protestant church in the city of Izmir. He was jailed for almost two years on terror charges, but was placed under house arrest on Wednesday.

Trump on Thursday hit back at the move, calling for his immediate release and warning that the US would impose “large sanctions on Turkey for their long detainment” of Brunson.

Ties were already strained over multiple issues, including Washington’s support of a Syrian Kurdish militia which Turkey views as a terrorist group, and the US’s failure to extradite the Pennsylvania-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Erdogan in September suggested Turkey could free Brunson if the US handed over Gulen – an offer brushed off by Washington. Ankara accuses Gulen of ordering the 2016 failed overthrow of Erdogan, a claim he strongly denies.

The Washington Post on Friday reported a deal between Ankara and Washington was made to secure the release of a Turkish woman jailed in Israel in exchange for the freedom of Brunson.

Ebru Ozkan, 27, had been held for over a month by Israel on charges of passing money to a “terrorist” group, but she returned to Turkey on July 16.

The newspaper said the agreement was “personally sealed” by Trump, but fell apart when Brunson was transferred to house arrest. Erdogan said Turkey had “never made Brunson a bargaining chip”. However, he said Ankara had asked for US help in securing Ozkan’s return home. “But we didn’t say: ‘In return, we will give you Brunson’. Nothing like this was discussed,” he insisted.

Brunson risks up to 35 years in jail if found guilty of carrying out activities on behalf of two groups Turkey deems to be terror organisations: the Gulen movement and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Brunson rejects the accusations and US officials have insisted he is innocent. –