Trump voices support for pastor on spy charges in Turkey
United States President Donald Trump voiced his support for Pastor Andrew Brunson, who is on trial in Turkey on charges of links to a group accused of orchestrating a failed military coup in 2016, in a case that has compounded strains in US-Turkish relations.
“Andrew Brunson, a fine gentleman and Christian leader in the United States, is on trial and being persecuted in Turkey for no reason,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“They call him a spy, but I am more a spy than he is. Hopefully he will be allowed to come home to his beautiful family where he belongs.”
Mr Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, was indicted on charges of helping the group Ankara holds responsible for the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He faces up to 35 years in prison.
Mr Brunson has been the pastor of Izmir Resurrection Church, serving a small Protestant congregation in Turkey’s third largest city. His trial is one of several cases stirring US-Turkish relations. The countries are also at odds over US support for a Kurdish militia in northern Syria that Turkey considers a terrorist organisation.
Washington has called for Mr Brunson’s release while Mr Erdogan suggested last year his fate could be linked to that of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara seeks to extradite over the coup attempt.
Mr Brunson’s lawyer, Ismail Cem Halavurt, said he was in custody because of his religious beliefs. Turkey is a majority Muslim country.
The Izmir city prosecutor’s office said enough evidence had been obtained to charge him with aiding terrorist organisations and obtaining confidential government information for political and military espionage.
A copy of his indictment accuses him of working with Mr Gulen’s network and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, which has waged an insurgency in south-east Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union.
Mr Halavurt said he believed Mr Brunson, detained 18 months ago, would be acquitted and there was no reason for his continued detention during trial.