Turkey warns US after sanctions
Tensions soar over house arrest of American pastor
Agrowing spat between Turkey and the US heated up yesterday, as Ankara said it would draw up retaliatory measures after Washington slapped sanctions on two Turkish ministers in one of the biggest crises between the two Nato allies in recent years.
Tensions have soared over Turkey’s detention on terror charges of American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was first held in October 2016 and was moved to house arrest last week.
Turkey accuses him of being involved in a failed military coup against it.
The Turkish foreign ministry warned that the move “will greatly damage constructive efforts” to solve outstanding issues and told Washington it would retaliate.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is set to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the next few days, also warned that the move “will not go without response”.
The stand-off appears to be one of the most serious crises between Turkey and the United States in modern history, along with the rows over the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
“A scandalous decision from Washington,” said the headline in the pro-government Hurriyet daily.
“A historic rupture,” added the opposition Cumhuriyet.
—AFP
President Donald Trump on Wednesday made good on a threat to impose sanctions on Turkey over the government’s continued detention of Andrew Brunson, a US Protestant preacher jailed two years ago on charges related to a failed military coup.
“The Turkish government refused to release Pastor Brunson after numerous conversations between President Trump and President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, and my conversations with Foreign Minister [Mevlut] Cavusoglu,” Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said in a statement.
“President Trump concluded that these sanctions are the appropriate action.”
At the White House, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration had “seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong, and we believe he is a victim of unfair and unjust detention by the government of Turkey.”
In a statement, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the US should reverse what it called a “wrongful decision.”
The Turkish government would respond “without delay to this aggressive attitude which serves no purpose,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The sanctions reflect a significant ratcheting up of tensions between the US and Turkey, a Nato ally and crucial player in the Mideast with which the administration has had increasingly testy relations.
The Turkish government refused to release Pastor Brunson after numerous conversations between President Trump and President Erdogan ...”
Michael Pompeo | US Secretary of State
Increasing strain
Analysts say relations between the United States and Turkey have come under increasing strain in the past two years over the US role in Syria and Turkey’s stronger ties with Russia.
Last week, under US pressure, Brunson was released to house arrest, but on Tuesday, a Turkish court refused to release him pending further proceedings scheduled for October.
Brunson had worked in Turkey for two decades when he was swept up in mass arrests after members of the Turkish military attempted to oust Erdogan’s government in 2016.
Tens of thousands of teachers, politicians, police officers, journalists and others were arrested or fired in retaliation for the failed coup.
Turkish authorities accuse Brunson of helping to foment opposition to Erdogan that led to the attempted coup and of showing support for Kurdish rebels whom the government considers to be terrorists.
He would face 35 years in prison if convicted.
Brunson’s plight has attracted considerable attention from evangelical Christian leaders, an important political constituency for Trump.
The pastor is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a conservative Floridabased group that encompasses hundreds of churches across the United States.
Pompeo’s hometown church in Kansas is also affiliated with the group.
Vice-President Mike Pence, also an evangelical Christian, has spoken out on the pastor’s behalf as well. Pence highlighted Brunson’s case at a recent State Department conference on religious freedom.
“Release Pastor Andrew Brunson now,” Pence said, addressing Erdogan, “or be prepared to face the consequences.”
Further deepening the administration’s connections to the case, one of Trump’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow, is head of the American Centre for Law and Justice, which has lobbied on Brunson’s behalf.
The sanctions levied by the Treasury Department target two senior Turkish officials whom the administration accuses of being directly responsible for Brunson’s arrest and detention — Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.
Under the sanctions, any assets the two officials might have in the US will be frozen, and American businesses and individuals are barred from having financial transactions with them.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters travelling with Pompeo that the administration still hoped to pursue a diplomatic solution.
But the administration’s patience clearly seems to be wearing thin.
The “unjust detention” of Brunson, other US citizens and at least three US Embassy employees with Turkish citizenship must end and they must be allowed to go home, Nauert said.
“Turkey knows our position well,” she said. “This has gone on far too long.”
In announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said that “Pastor Brunson’s unjust detention and continued prosecution by Turkish officials is simply unacceptable.”