Posted on 07/18/2018 11:02:28 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
A Turkish court ordered on Wednesday U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who is being tried on terrorism and spying charges, to remain in detention, rejecting his lawyer's plea for release.
The judge said the next hearing in the trial would be on October 12.
Brunson, a Christian pastor from North Carolina who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, was indicted on charges of helping the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which Ankara blames for the failed 2016 coup, as well as supporting the PKK terrorists organization.
Speaking to reporters in western Izmir province after the ruling, U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Ankara Philip Kosnett said he was disappointed in the results of the hearing, and said the U.S. government remained deeply concerned about his status.
Underlining that the U.S. has "great respect both for Turkey's traditional law as a haven for people of all faiths and for Turkey's legal traditions," as well as "faith in the commitment of the Turkish people to justice," Kosnett said they will continue to follow Brunson's case closely, expressing hope that he is reunited soon with his family.
The case of Brunson, who was a pastor at the Diriliş (Resurrection) Protestant Church in Izmir, has been a thorny issue between Ankara and Washington. Washington has repeatedly called for the release of Brunson, claiming he was "unjustly detained."
The Turkish government has repeatedly told Washington that Brunson's case is being handled by the courts and the government cannot intervene.
Brunson was arrested after a secret witness in a criminal probe into FETÖ testified against him while authorities were preparing to deport Brunson and his wife Norine Lyn for "involvement in actions threatening national security."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysabah.com ...
Pastor Brunson was "detained" on October 2016, has lost 50 pounds since he has been held in the Turkish prison.
Here is a recent article in Al-Monitor, a respected news source in the Middle East.
Life sentence hangs over US pastor as Washington sizes up Ankara
It’s well past time to oust Turkey from NATO.
And right after we pull the last of the US troops from Turkey we should send them right back in to rescue this pastor and mercilessly kill every last one of the Janissaries who gets in the way.
The Janissaries were Christian tribute children given to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to become soldiers.
They are all gone and few Christians are left in Turkey. Same with Jews, Ezidi’s, and Alevi’s.
Now the forces working for Erdogan the Islamist Dictator of Turkey are ISIS, al-Qaeda (Nusra), Sultan Murat and other Jihadi militias. Turkey is now the home of the Muslim Brotherhood, since they were run out of Egypt.
Do not buy anything from Turkey. Be especially wary of cotton clothes in Walmart and Target as well as olive oil and obvious items such as dates and apricots.
I have no issue with boycotting them.
I like dried apricots but they are grown in places a lot closer too.
I will look at the olive oil issue. We use a lot of it. We also use cottonseed oil, it is a local product.
I don’t remember seeing Turkish clothes here. Will look for it.
I’m going to have ham for Thanksgiving this year.
I checked the olive oil we buy. It says it is produced in Italy, Greece or Spain. It is packaged in Italy.
You can have Turkey. In the US it won’t be produced in Turkey. smile.
I think they’re hoping to get us to trade Gulen for him.
They have presented no proof that Gulen was behind the Coup. And Gulen says he had nothing to do with it.
Early speculation was it was a Faux Coup, that Erdogan planned. It would not surprise me if Brennan, then head of CIA, had given Erdogan the list of thousands of suspects he immediately had.
That’s why they have to hold a hostage to get him extradited. And they think that will work. They have forgotten that Obama isn’t in office anymore.
Correct.
It is becoming clearer day by day. Those who doubted it, are being awakened.
Translation: “Take the Midnight Express”
We shall see.
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