Brunson, US pastor held in Turkey, released
This is very good news:
A Turkish court freed American pastor Andrew Brunson on Friday after he spent nearly two years in jail and more time under house arrest on charges related to terrorism and espionage. Brunson had become entangled in a diplomatic dispute between Turkey and the United States and American officials had been pushing hard for his release…
“We’re grateful to the president, members of Congress and diplomatic leaders who continued to put pressure on Turkey to secure the freedom of Pastor Brunson,” lawyer Jay Sekulow, who represents Brunson’s family, said in a statement received by the Reuters news agency. “The fact that he is now on a plane to the United States can only be viewed as a significant victory for Pastor Brunson and his family.”
It also seems to be a victory for President Trump, who has a good track record with this sort of thing, although I have no idea how much the pressure from the US caused Turkey to decide to releave Brunson. My guess is that it certainly had some effect.
Why was Brunson imprisoned in the first place? After all, he’d been in Turkey for two decades.
He was caught up in the post-coup sweep by Erdogan that Erdogan used as an excuse to lock up a host of people he thought represented a danger to him or an opportunity for him. The coup occurred in the summer of 2016 and I wrote about it several times (see this, for example). I had never heard of Brunson when I wrote this post about Erdogan’s plans, but it seems to me in retrospect that the reason Brunson was included in the sweep was to attempt to use him as a bargaining chip for Gulen, whom he blamed for the failed coup and who resides in the US.
Erdogan rounded up many thousands of people, using the failed coup as an excuse. But to Obama’s credit, he didn’t turn over Gulen to Erdogan. However, Erdogan explicitly suggested that the US accept a prisoner exchange in which Brunson would be released in exchange for the US turning over Gulen. This was not done; Brunson is on his way home, and Gulen stays here as well.
[NOTE: By the way, Erdogan is not exactly the duly-elected leader of Turkey, certainly not in any conventional way. He had been banned from running again by a term-limits law, but he got around that in a very clever manner, and then consolidated his power still further. Meanwhile, during the summer of 2016 coup, Barack Obama supported Erdogan against those who would overthrow him.]
I wonder how many of the Turkish army officers I met when I was in Istanbul in 2006 are still alive ?
Ten years ago or so, my friend Michael Totten went to Istanbul — which he liked the best of all the cities he visited (or lived in) in Middle East. (He lived in Beirut for about a year, then traveled to Egypt, Israel, Libya Iraq and Iran). Anyway, while in Istanbul he go it into his head that he wanted to see Kurdistan. He rented a car and drove all the way across Turkey. Needless to say, the Kurdish border officials were rather surprised to see a blond American show up like this.
I’m not sure if such an adventure would be possible now.
With this and the Kanye West thing, can we all now agree that Trump is a stable political genius?
Cornhead,
I agree. Djt doesn’t play by the rules, he is outside the box, and outside of the right field line checking liscense plates in the parking lot. I am amazed at his ability to read the playing field. He could end up as the most transformative POTUS ever.
Hillary Clinton and her state department supported Manuel Zalaya over the Honduran Supreme Court, and called his term limit ouster a coup de tat.
The case of Joshua Holt in Venezuela was very similar. He was arrested on trumped up terrorism charges. The Venezuelan regime was trying to arrange an exchange for the two nephews of the first lady, Cilia Flores, who were arrested and convicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. Holt was held in jail without a trial for two years, before being released after intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic pressure.
Everyone in government (both parties) is clear that if you cave in to the demands of kidnappers, any American citizen overseas would be vulnerable. Instead of one or two hostages in the world, we would have hundreds or thousands.
Trum is outside the box like I am, but in a different way. Doesn’t mean people will kiss his ring or like him as a result. If they fear for their survival, I am sure they will ally with anyone in existence.