Turkey releases Pastor

[harrybarracuda]

Gotta give baldy orange cunto points for this.

A court in Turkey has freed a US pastor from house arrest in a case that badly strained ties between the US and Turkey.
Andrew Brunson was arrested over alleged links to political groups, including the banned Gulenist movement, after a failed coup attempt in 2016.


The court convicted him of terror-related charges and sentenced him to three years in jail.

But Mr Brunson was released because of the time he had already been detained.

Additional charges of espionage were dropped.

"This is the day our family has been praying for, I am delighted to be on my way home to the United States," Mr Brunson said in a statement.

"My entire family thanks the president, the administration, and Congress for their unwavering support," he added.

The Reuters news agency reported that the pastor would be flown back to the US on a military aircraft.

<snip>


President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always insisted that he could not meddle with Turkey's judicial independence and that only the courts would decide Pastor Brunson's fate. But the World Economic Forum places Turkey 103rd of 137 countries in the independent judiciary rankings and Turkey-watchers knew it would always come down to a political decision.

In the end, pressure from Washington on Ankara was too much. Sanctions, trade tariffs and the threat of more had led US-Turkey relations to nosedive - and with them, the Turkish lira. Facing spiralling inflation, a 40% drop in the value of the currency and the start of an economic crisis, Turkey had to act to normalise relations with the US. Mr Brunson was the key.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45841276

[HermantheGerman]

Gotta give baldy orange cunto points for this.

Yes, got to give credit to Trump. Then again he just did what is expected of him. Defending Americans ! He did the right thing and sanction that religious asshole Erdogan. Someone had to show him the border lines that he overstepped.

Funny is: "Trump and Putin are the only ones who put him in his place where he belongs...down on the floor bowing."