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In October 2017, Ihsan Ozbek, chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, told the ''[[New York Times]],'' "Andrew was a normal American Christian; he is not a spy. I know him[...]."<ref name="nytimes1"/>
In October 2017, Ihsan Ozbek, chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, told the ''[[New York Times]],'' "Andrew was a normal American Christian; he is not a spy. I know him[...]."<ref name="nytimes1"/>


On July 5, 2018, in anticipation to Pastor Brunson's third day of trial, 98 Members of the [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en European Parliament] (MEPs), from all political groups and 21 countries, sent an open letter<ref>[http://media.aclj.org/pdf/Open-Letter-For-Pastor-Brunson-5-July-2018.pdf Open letter of 98 MEPs to President Erdoğan], 5 July 2018.</ref> to remind President Erdoğan of “the European and International commitments of the Republic of Turkey in regard to freedom of religion, to the prohibition of arbitrary detention, and to the right to a fair trial.” They especially protest “against the fact that Pastor Brunson had to wait almost a year and half before being indicted” and against “the fact that the indictment associates “Christianization” with terrorism, considering the Christian faith as endangering Turkey’s unity, while Christianity has been peacefully present in this land long before the actual Republic of Turkey.”<ref>Malo Tresca, « [https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Protestantisme/Pres-cent-deputes-europeens-exigent-liberation-dun-pasteur-americain-emprisonne-Turquie-2018-07-12-1200954650 Près de cent députés européens exigent la libération d’un pasteur américain emprisonné en Turquie] », La Croix, 12 July 2018.</ref>
On July 5, 2018, in anticipation to Pastor Brunson's third day of trial, 98 Members of the [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en European Parliament] (MEPs), from all political groups and 21 countries, sent an open letter<ref>[http://media.aclj.org/pdf/Open-Letter-For-Pastor-Brunson-5-July-2018.pdf Open letter of 98 MEPs to President Erdoğan], 5 July 2018.</ref> to remind President Erdoğan of “the European and International commitments of the Republic of Turkey in regard to freedom of religion, to the prohibition of arbitrary detention, and to the right to a fair trial.” They especially protest “against the fact that Pastor Brunson had to wait almost a year and half before being indicted” and against “the fact that the indictment associates “Christianization” with terrorism, considering the Christian faith as endangering Turkey’s unity, while Christianity has been peacefully present in this land long before the current Republic of Turkey.”<ref>Malo Tresca, « [https://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Protestantisme/Pres-cent-deputes-europeens-exigent-liberation-dun-pasteur-americain-emprisonne-Turquie-2018-07-12-1200954650 Près de cent députés européens exigent la libération d’un pasteur américain emprisonné en Turquie] », La Croix, 12 July 2018.</ref>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 15:06, 18 July 2018


Andrew Brunson
Personal life
NationalityUnited States
Home townBlack Mountain, North Carolina
SpouseNorine Brunson
Alma materTrinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A., 1991)[1]; Erskine Theological Seminary M.Div.; University of Aberdeen, PhD
Religious life
ReligionProtestant Christian
DenominationEvangelical Presbyterian Church[2]
ChurchIzmir Resurrection Church
Homechurch: Christ Community Church in Montreat, N.C.
Senior posting
Postpastor
WebsiteEvangelical Presbyterian Church - free Pastor Andrew

Andrew C. Brunson is an American prisoner in Turkey, arrested in the purges occurring after the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, imprisoning tens of thousands of Turkish military personnel, civil servants, educators, academics, dissidents, and journalists. Brunson is an evangelical pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church, a small Protestant church with about 25 congregants.[2]

Arrest

As of October 2017, Brunson joined Americans under arrest for similar charges in Turkey including Ismail Kul, a chemistry professor at Widener University in Pennsylvania, and his brother Mustafa Kul, arrested in August 2016 in Bursa;[3] and Serkan Golge, a 37-year-old NASA physicist; and such non-Americans as U.S. embassy worker Hamza Ulucay, a Turkish national who worked in the U.S. mission in Adana for over three decades; and Metin Topuz, a Turkish national who worked in the American embassy in Istanbul. Mete Canturk, another employee of the embassy, was being sought on similar charges, with his wife and child questioned by investigators in Amasya;[4] and the embassy's deputy chief, Philip Kosnett, was also being sought.[5][6][7]

Brunson, 50, who was applying for Turkish permanent residency, having lived there 23 years, was imprisoned on 7 October 2016, accused of being a member of the Gülen movement, which the Turkish government considers to be a terrorist organization.[8][9][10][11][12] The charges were later amended to include spying and attempting to overthrow the government.[13] Brunson shares a small cell with 17 Turkish prisoners also allegedly in some way affiliated with the Gulen movement.[14]

Brunson is married with three children.[2] His wife, Norine, was initially arrested alongside him but was released after 13 days.[2] Norine later briefly met American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March 2017.[2] She is described as the main source of news concerning the fate of her husband, such as the keenness of his devout Muslim cellmates to convert him to Islam.[2]

Indictment and trial

The Turkish government primarily claims that Brunson is a member of the Gulen movement, but also claims that he works with Kurdistan, and is involved with American espionage, among other things. They claim that he was interested in overthrowing the Turkish government, and that he supposedly helped plan the coup, which he denies.

In May 2018, a hearing for his case occurred in Aliaga that lasted eleven hours. The judge dismissed all of Brunson's witnesses without listening to any of their testimony. Sandra Jolley, Vice Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom attended the case, and released the following statement:

"“We leave the courthouse with serious concerns. Today’s eleven hours of proceedings were dominated by wild conspiracies, tortured logic, and secret witnesses, but no real evidence to speak of. Upon these rests a man’s life” [15] She described the judge's decision not to allow any of the witnesses called by Brunson's defense to testify on his behalf as "simply unconscionable".

Case claims

According to Slate, "The case against Brunson is reportedly based on the testimony of an undisclosed witness, though reports vary as to what exactly the witness alleges. In one version, Brunson attended a Gulenist event. In another, he spoke positively once about relations between Christians and the movement."[8] Brunson was charged with "membership in an armed terrorist organization," "gathering state secrets for espionage, attempting to overthrow the Turkish parliament and government, and to change the constitutional order."[16][17]

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, they were provided a translation of the indictment by the American Center for Law and Justice. [18]

The Asheville Citizen-Times says that it mentions that Brunson's daughter, who was raised in Turkey, had sent a video of the Turkish dish known as maqluba to his iPhone, which was found by the Turkish government. According to the prosecution, this dish is something that Gulen supporters commonly eat.

Further claims by Turkish media

A December 14, 2016 Sabah daily news story, that was said to be based on the words of an informant, claimed that Brunson, while dispensing aid among Syrian refugees, tried to divide Turkey with sermons praising Gulenism and by speaking in support of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).[14] The pro-Erdogan administration newspaper Takvim alleges that Brunson was a "high-level member of the Gulen movement" and an American spy, positioned to have become CIA chief in Turkey had the 2016 coup attempt succeeded.[19] Takvim’s editor-in-chief, Ergun Diler, alleged that Brunson fended off an attempt to assassinate him by the use of skills derived from his supposed intelligence agency training, and that Brunson was influential all over the region. Diler speculated that the CIA would assassinate Brunson in prison if it thought he would not be deported back to the U.S.[20]

Reactions

Brunson has said, "I am not a member of an Islamic movement. I have never seen any member of FETÖ [the Gulen movement] in my life."[19] In a March 2017 letter to U.S. President Donald Trump through an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice, Brunson said, "Let the Turkish government know that you will not cooperate with them in any way until they release me."[21]

According to a February 2017 letter to the president of Turkey signed by 78 members of the U.S. Congress, "There appears to be no evidence to substantiate the charges against him for membership in an armed terrorist organization."[22]

A petition for the release of Brunson was launched on the White House's "WE the PEOPLE" citizen petitions website in February 2017, but was later closed without garnering enough signatures. The American Center for Law and Justice launched similar petitions on its main website[23] and the website of its Be Heard Project.[17]

On September 28, 2017, Erdoğan said the United States should exchange Pennsylvania-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen with Pastor Andrew Brunson, saying "You have a pastor too. Give him to us.... Then we will try [Brunson] and give him to you...."[24][25][26][27] "You have a pastor too. ... You give us that one and we'll work with our judiciary and give back yours."[25] The Federal judiciary alone determines extradition cases in the U.S.[28] An August 2017 decree gave Erdogan authority to approve the exchange of detained or convicted foreigners with people held in other countries. Asked about the suggested swap on September 28, 2017, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "I can’t imagine that we would go down that road. ... We have received extradition requests for him [Gulen]." Anonymous US officials have said to reporters that the Turkish government has not yet provided sufficient evidence for the U.S. Justice Department to charge Gulen.[29]

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church of America has called for a prayer and fasting October 7–8 for Brunson's release.[30]

On October 11, 2017, departing U.S. Ambassador to Turkey John R. Bass said Brunson "appears to be being held simply because he’s an American citizen who as a man of faith was in contact with a range of people in this country who he was trying to help, in keeping with his faith. And at a time when there were lots of interactions between many different people in society, and for some reason, some specific set of his interactions suddenly are being classified as support for terrorism, for membership in a terrorist organization. I have yet to see a consistent description of which specific terrorist organization he is supposed to be a member of. People don’t seem to have had a straight answer on that within the Turkish government. So for all those reasons, we believe he should be released. And U.S. government officials have continued to encourage the Turkish government to release him."[31]

In October 2017, Ihsan Ozbek, chairman of the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey, told the New York Times, "Andrew was a normal American Christian; he is not a spy. I know him[...]."[3]

On July 5, 2018, in anticipation to Pastor Brunson's third day of trial, 98 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), from all political groups and 21 countries, sent an open letter[32] to remind President Erdoğan of “the European and International commitments of the Republic of Turkey in regard to freedom of religion, to the prohibition of arbitrary detention, and to the right to a fair trial.” They especially protest “against the fact that Pastor Brunson had to wait almost a year and half before being indicted” and against “the fact that the indictment associates “Christianization” with terrorism, considering the Christian faith as endangering Turkey’s unity, while Christianity has been peacefully present in this land long before the current Republic of Turkey.”[33]

References

  1. ^ "Calls intensify for release of TEDS alumnus Andrew Brunson in Turkey". Trinity Newsroom. Trinity International University. 2017-04-24. Retrieved 2017-09-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |doi_brokendate=, |deadurl=, |subscription=, |trans_title=, |editors=, |separator=, and |registration= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f "A pastor becomes a pawn in a spat between America and Turkey". The Economist. 30 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b Gall, Carlotta (2017-10-07). "Americans Jailed After Failed Coup in Turkey Are Hostages to Politics". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2017-10-16. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |registration=, |doi_brokendate=, |editors=, |deadurl=, |subscription=, |separator=, and |trans_title= (help)
  4. ^ Gall, Carlotta (20 October 2017). "U.S.-Turkey Visa Standoff Disrupts Business and Tourism". Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  5. ^ "Turkey: Prosecutors summon US Consulate employee". Aa.com.tr. 2016-08-22. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
  6. ^ Dewan, Angela (2015-09-01). "In the crosshairs: The Americans detained in Turkey". CNN. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  7. ^ CBS/AP October 9, 2017, 10:04 AM (2017-10-09). "Turkey detains US consulate worker's family, accuses Donald Trump administration of "unnecessary escalation"". CBS News. Retrieved 2017-10-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b Keating, Joshua (2017-05-15). "Andrew Brunson, the American pastor caught in Erdogan's crackdown". Slate.com. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  9. ^ Keating, Joshua (May 15, 2017). "Erdogan's Prisoner: How an American pastor, improbably accused of terrorism, became a pawn in U.S.-Turkey relations". Slate.
  10. ^ Chiaramonte, Perry (May 12, 2017). "Trump commits to securing American pastor's release from Turkish prison, family lawyer says". Fox News.
  11. ^ Barrow, Tzippe (April 19, 2017). "American Pastor Jailed in Turkey Asks Trump to End His Nightmare". Christian Broadcasting Network.
  12. ^ "American pastor jailed in Turkey turns to President Trump for help". March 30, 2017.
  13. ^ Keating, Joshua (August 25, 2017). "American Pastor Imprisoned in Turkey Faces New Charges". Slate.
  14. ^ a b "US Secretary of State Tillerson meets wife of American pastor jailed in Turkey". Assistnews.net. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  15. ^ "Turkey Postpones Hearing to July 18, Sends Pastor Andrew Brunson Back to Prison". United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  16. ^ "US Pastor Andrew Brunson Faces New Charges of Attempting to Overthrow Turkish Gov't". The Christian Post. 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  17. ^ a b "Andrew Brunson: American Christian Pastor Imprisoned in Turkey". Be Heard Project. American Center for Law and Justice. Retrieved 2017-09-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |doi_brokendate=, |deadurl=, |subscription=, |trans_title=, |editors=, |separator=, and |registration= (help)
  18. ^ Barrett, Mark. "Charges against Brunson contain a strange mix of conspiracy theories — and a food video". Citizen Times.com. USA Today. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  19. ^ a b "Erdoğan says would release US pastor if Gülen is handed over - Turkey Purge". 28 September 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Pro-Erdoğan daily on jailed pastor Brunson: 'CIA pastor' engineered coup attempt in Turkey – Stockholm Center for Freedom". Stockholmcf.org. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  21. ^ "Trump Presses Turkey for Release of US 'Security Risk' Pastor". Voanews.com. 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  22. ^ "Congressional Leaders Seek Release of American Pastor Unjustly Detained in Turkey - Committee on Foreign Affairs". Foreignaffairs.house.gov. 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2017-09-28.
  23. ^ "Free American Pastor Andrew Brunson". American Center for Law and Justice. Retrieved July 15, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |doi_brokendate=, |deadurl=, |registration=, |subscription=, |separator=, and |trans_title= (help)
  24. ^ "A pastor becomes a pawn in a spat between America and Turkey". Economist.com. 2017-09-30. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  25. ^ a b 7:49 AM ET. "Turkey's Erdogan Suggests Swap: Jailed U.S. Pastor For Turkish Cleric : The Two-Way". NPR. Retrieved 2017-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ "Give us Gülen if you want arrested pastor Andrew Brunson to be freed: Erdoğan tells US". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  27. ^ nytimes.com: Turkey Rebuffs Trump, Won't Send Jailed US Pastor Back
  28. ^ "Erdogan Is Holding Andrew Brunson Hostage". The Daily Caller. 2017-09-28. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
  29. ^ Friday 29 September 2017 02:09 UTC (2017-09-29). "Erdogan suggests freeing imprisoned US pastor for Gulen extradition". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2017-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ by epcepnews (2017-09-27). "Call to Prayer and Fasting to mark one year of Andrew Brunson imprisonment". EPConnection. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
  31. ^ "Ambassador John R. Bass Press Round Table - Diplomatic Correspondents Association (October 11, 2017) | U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Turkey". Tr.usembassy.gov. 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
  32. ^ Open letter of 98 MEPs to President Erdoğan, 5 July 2018.
  33. ^ Malo Tresca, « Près de cent députés européens exigent la libération d’un pasteur américain emprisonné en Turquie », La Croix, 12 July 2018.
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