Tag: Coup

Hopes dashed for release of pastor Andrew Brunson as Turkish trial to continue in October

July 18, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sanctions, Turkey, USA

Hopes were dashed for the imminent release of an American pastor jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges as a Turkish court today ordered him to remain behind bars. The court scheduled Andrew Brunson’s next hearing for 12 October. Some observers had believed that Turkey might release Brunson, who has been . . . Read More

Brunson’s lawyer: secret witness practice ‘absolutely outlandish’

May 10, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Gaziantep, Izmir, Kurds, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Şanliurfa, Suruç, Terrorism, Turkey, UN, USA

Lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt speaking with journalists at the entrance to the Sakran Prison complex on 7 May, 2018.

At the close of Turkey’s second trial hearing against US pastor Andrew Brunson, his lawyer has sharply protested the Izmir court’s reliance on secret prosecution witnesses against his client. Jailed for the past 19 months, the 50-year-old Evangelical Presbyterian minister was sent back to his cell in a maximum-security prison . . . Read More

Brunson’s trial highlights Turkey’s ‘hostage diplomacy’ tactic

May 4, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Human rights, Iran, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

On the eve of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson’s second court hearing in Turkey, growing international comment has focused on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s transparent “hostage diplomacy” tactic, one of several issues seriously souring his nation’s relations with the United States. The upcoming 7 May hearing near Turkey’s third-largest . . . Read More

On trial for terrorism and espionage in a Turkish court

April 25, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Islamic State, Izmir, Kurds, Middle East, Missionaries, PKK, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Refugees, Suruç, Turkey, USA

Just one prisoner, slightly built, came through a side door, escorted on either side by armed gendarmerie soldiers, walking him past rows and rows of empty seats. Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, he glanced up at the impressive state-of-the-art courtroom, built to accommodate 650 people. Its walls . . . Read More

Erdogan demands Gulen extradition for US pastor’s release

April 23, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

Responding over the weekend to public pressure from both US President Donald Trump and 66 members of the US Senate, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeated his demand that US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen must be extradited back to Turkey if Washington expects Ankara to release jailed US pastor Andrew . . . Read More

Turkish court puts trial of US pastor on hold for three weeks

April 16, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Andrew Brunson got his first day in a Turkish court today (16 April) to answer espionage charges. It will be three weeks until he gets his second. The American-born Brunson, pastor of a small Protestant church, told the court he denies any wrongdoing. He is accused of supporting the attempted . . . Read More

US: No evidence Pastor Brunson guilty of any crime

April 13, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

A photo of the Rev. Andrew Brunson during his time in prison. Photo courtesy of World Witness

Just days before jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson is to stand trial accused of espionage and terrorism against Turkey, a senior US official in Ankara declared this week that months of strained relations between Ankara and Washington have “started going to a positive direction … amid accelerated cooperation.” The optimistic . . . Read More

Turkey: date set for trial of US pastor Andrew Brunson

March 21, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Imprisoned US pastor Andrew Brunson is set to stand trial before a Turkish criminal court on 16 April on espionage- and terrorism-related charges that could jail him for up to 35 years. Seventeen months after the pastor’s arrest in the port city of Izmir, a formal indictment accepted by the . . . Read More

Turkey calls for life imprisonment of US pastor Andrew Brunson

March 14, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, PKK, Turkey, USA

Turkish prosecutors demanded life imprisonment for jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson in an official indictment presented to Izmir’s 2nd Criminal Court yesterday, 13 March. Arrested without bail since October 2016, Brunson is accused of being “a member and executive” of the Islamic movement led by self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, . . . Read More

Jailed US pastor’s daughter addresses UN Human Rights Council

March 13, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, UN, USA

The daughter of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson appealed to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva last week to help secure her father’s release from prison in Turkey, where he has been jailed for the past 17 months. Declaring that her father had been “falsely imprisoned for far . . . Read More

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