Turkey liberates pastor amidst American tensions, despite terrorist conviction

Pastor Andrew Brunson would land at Joint Base Andrews on Saturday at noon EDT (1600 GMT) at Washington, after a stop in Germany for a medical check-up.

Brunson was jailed two years ago and had been under house arrest since July. He was accused of ties with Kurdish militants and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the clergyman who was blamed by the Turkish government for a coup attempt in 2016.

US Pastor Andrew Brunson, left at the front, comes home after his release

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The Turkish court sentenced Brunson to three years and 1-1 / 2 months in prison for charges of terrorism, but said he would no longer serve any further imprisonment and free him.

Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, denied the accusations and Washington had demanded his immediate release.

President Donald Trump said that Brunson would probably go to the Oval Office in the White House on Saturday.

Asked whether the US sanctions imposed on Turkey to try to win the release of Brunson might be lifted, Trump claimed that no agreement had been reached on the pastor's freedom.

"There was no deal at all, there was no deal, but we are very happy to have him and have him in good shape." Trump told reporters in Cincinnati.

The diplomatic battle over Brunson had accelerated a recent sale in the Turkish currency and the financial crisis worsened.

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Dressed in a black suit, a white shirt and a red tie, Brunson cried when the verdict was pronounced, witnesses said. Before the verdict of the judge he had told the court: "I am an innocent man, I love Jesus, I love Turkey."

Witnesses told the court in the western city of Aliaga that the testimony against the preacher attributed to them was not accurate.

Brunson's mother told Reuters that she and his father were excited about the news. "We are overjoyed that God has answered the prayers of so many people around the world," she said by telephone from her home in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Trump used the Brunson case to try to score points with evangelical Christians, a large part of his political base, prior to the November 6 election for Congress, which will determine whether Republicans hold control over Congress.

He has Brunson, a native of North Carolina, a "big Christian". and vice president Mike Pence, the White House's main emissary to evangelicals, had urged Americans to pray for Brunson.

"We thank God for answered prayers and praise the efforts of @SecPompeo & @StateDept in supporting Reverend Brunson and his family in this difficult time," Pence said on Twitter. "@SecondLady and I are looking forward to welcoming Pastor Brunson and his courageous wife Norine back to the US!"

The American broadcaster NBC said Thursday that Washington had entered into a secret deal with Ankara to secure the release of Brunson.

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, told Reuters that active involvement by Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo contributed to the release of Brunson.

"Many factors contributed to this," Tillis said, adding that the United States was trying to "return to a positive relationship" with Turkey.

US President Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at the NATO summit in Brussels in July.

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NATO allies

Relations between the two NATO allies were under heavy pressure with regard to US support to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, Turkey's plans to buy a Russian missile defense system and the US imprisonment of a director at a Turkish state bank in a sanctions-fascinating case in Iran.

The release of Brunson can help alleviate tensions, but political analysts say there are still many unsolved problems.

"This is a necessary, but far from enough step to reverse a deeper gap between the United States and Turkey, two NATO allies," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Attention can now be paid to the fate of a Turkish-American national and former NASA scientist in prison in Turkey for indictment charges, as well as to three local US consulates who have also been detained.

Washington wants them all to be released.

"We hope that the Turkish government will soon release our other detained US citizens and @StateDept local staff," said Pompeo on Twitter.

Ankara has demanded that the United States hand over Gulen to Turkey. The clergyman, who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denies any role in the attempted coup.