A Turkish court again rejected an appeal to release American Christian pastor Andrew Brunson from house arrest, broadcaster Haberturk said on Friday.

Brunson, an Evangelical pastor residing in the coastal province of Izmir, is standing trial in Turkey over terrorism charges.

His case now lies at the heart of a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the U.S. that has prompted a crash of Turkey’s lira currency.

The lira, which has lost some 40 per cent of its value this year, weakened beyond 6.21 against the U.S. dollar after the news, from 6.04 beforehand. </s> The İzmir 3rd High Criminal Court on Friday rejected an appeal to release American Christian pastor Andrew Brunson from house arrest, Reuters reported.

Brunson’s previous appeal to the 2nd High Criminal Court was also rejected on Tuesday.

Brunson, an evangelical pastor residing in the coastal province of İzmir, is standing trial in Turkey over terrorism charges. His case now lies at the heart of a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the United States that has prompted a crash of Turkey’s lira currency.

The lira, which has lost some 40 percent of its value this year, weakened beyond 6.21 against the US dollar after the news, from 6.04 beforehand.

“Turkey has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They are now holding our wonderful Christian Pastor, who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage. We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!” US President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday.

The US had previously imposed sanctions on Turkey’s justice and interior ministers over the Brunson case. </s> A Turkish court has convicted an American pastor at the center of a Turkish-American diplomatic dispute of terror charges, but has released him from house arrest and allowed him to leave Turkey.

The court near the western city of Izmir on Friday sentenced Andrew Brunson to 3 years and 1 month in prison for the conviction, but since the evangelical pastor has already spent two years in detention he won't serve more time.

Brunson, 50, had rejected the espionage and terror-related charges and strongly maintained his innocence.

Lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt said Brunson was expected to leave Turkey for the United States

Turkish soldiers stand guard outside the entrance to Aliaga Prison Court after American pastor Andrew Brunson arrived ahead of his court hearing on October 12, 2018 in Izmir, Turkey.

The pastor told the court he is "an innocent man. I love Jesus, I love Turkey."

The United States has repeatedly called for his release.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> ALIAGA, Turkey — A Turkish court convicted an American pastor at the center of a Turkish-American diplomatic dispute of terror charges, but has released him from house arrest and allowed him to leave Turkey.

The court near the western city of Izmir on Friday sentenced Andrew Brunson to three years and one month in prison for the conviction, but since the evangelical pastor has already spent two years in detention, he won’t serve more time.

Brunson, 50, had rejected the espionage and terror-related charges and strongly maintained his innocence.

Lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt said Brunson was expected to leave Turkey for the United States </s> ANKARA (Reuters) - The American evangelical Christian pastor at the center of a row between Ankara and Washington left his home in Turkey’s western Izmir province on Friday, a Reuters cameraman said, hours after he was released from detention.

Andrew Brunson was released after the court sentenced him to three years and 1-1/2 months in prison on terrorism charges, but said he would not serve any further jail time. Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, was jailed two years ago and has been under house arrest since July. </s> WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Turkish court has freed pastor Andrew Brunson, a North Carolina-native, two years after he was detained, who was charged with helping to plot a coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The court on Friday sentenced Brunson to three years and one month in prison, but chose to release him based on his time already served, as well as his manner during the proceedings, his lawyer said. Prosecutors were seeking a 10-year jail term.

U.S. Representative Mark Walker (R-N.C.) responded in a statement, saying, “Every American should be proud that we are finally bringing North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson home. His release today, after a two-year unjust imprisonment, was only possible through millions of prayers and the concerted efforts of President Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary Pompeo and members of Congress. This needs to be the end point for the many acts of aggression and human rights violations for Turkey and President Erdogan.”

In an effort to exert pressure on Turkey, 154 US House representatives, in a bi-partisan effort, sent a letter to President Erdogan demanding Brunson’s release. Walker also introduced legislation that would direct international financial institutions to oppose loans to Turkey until Brunson, US citizens and consular staff were released.

Turkey detained Brunson in October 2016 in the aftermath of a failed military coup.

Brunson worked as an evangelical Presbyterian pastor at the Izmir Resurrection Church. He has lived in Turkey for more than 23 years with his wife and three children, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which had advocated for his release.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated, “Pastor Brunson initially was held in a cell with 21 other inmates that was built to hold only eight prisoners. He was transferred in August 2017 to Kiriklar Prison where he was in a cell with two other men who have been accused of being members of the Gülen movement. He spends 24 hours a day in his cell, leaving for one hour weekly for visits. Sometimes he is allowed family visits and the U.S. Embassy sees him regularly.”

The USCIRF added that Brunson was incarcerated without due process and inadequate physical and psychological support.

Before the verdict, Brunson was able to meet his wife in the courthouse, where they held hands and talked about the possible outcome.

“I am an innocent man. I love Jesus. I love Turkey,” said Brunson, wearing a dark suit and red tie.

Brunson was moved to his home in July this year, placed under house arrest and given a travel ban, in a move seen as a potential step toward his release.

Brunson’s lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt told CNN that Brunson’s electronic tag would later be removed and that his client was now a “free man.”

A source, who confirmed Brunson’s travel ban and house arrest had been lifted, told CNN that the next step was to guard his safety and get him out of the country.

A senior White House official cautioned that an intricate “choreography” needed to unfold before Brunson could return to the United States.

He is expected first to fly to Germany for a full medical evaluation at the US’ Ramstein Air Force Base, the official said.

Another source said Brunson was likely to leave the country tonight, and that a US military aircraft from Europe was on standby to transport him out of Turkey.

The Brunson decision comes at a time of intense global attention on Turkey, which has locked horns with Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of a Saudi journalist in Istanbul.

Turkish authorities claim to have audio and visual evidence that shows Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed inside the Saudi consulate, a source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN.

Saudi Arabia firmly denies any involvement in his disappearance.

Brunson’s release is also a step forward in Turkish-US relations, which have shown signs of warming in recent months. Trump and Erdogan met briefly on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September for the first time since relations soured. Shortly afterward, Erdogan said the two countries were likely to weather the storm.

Turkey had good financial and strategic reasons to release Brunson, several analysts have said, including the threat of further US sanctions if Brunson had not been released.

Trump slapped Turkey, a NATO ally, with sanctions in August, targeting the country’s justice and interior ministers.

In August, President Donald Trump told reporters that Turkey had “not acted as a friend” and that the charges against Brunson were “phony.” </s> CLOSE

U.S. pastor Andrew Craig Brunson is escorted by Turkish police officers to his house in Izmir on July 25, 2018. A Turkish court on Aug. 17, 2018, rejected an appeal for his release on charges of links to groups opposed to the government. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Only hours after a Turkish court rejected an appeal on Friday for the release of a U.S. pastor from house arrest, President Donald Trump said Ankara had acted "very, very badly" in the case and the United States was "not going to take it sitting down."

Turkey has been holding pastor Andrew Brunson for two years on charges that he is linked to the Fethullah Gülen Movement, which Turkey says was responsible for a failed coup attempt in 2016.

The 50-year-old pastor and the U.S. government vehemently deny those charges.

"They made up this phony charge that he is a spy, and he is not a spy," Trump told reporters.

A higher court in Izmir upheld a lower-court decision that rejected the lifting of Brunson's house arrest, according to the state-run Anadolu agency and the newspaper HaberTurk. It also rejected an appeal for his travel ban to be lifted, Anadolu reported.

Turkey has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They are now holding our wonderful Christian Pastor, who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage. We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2018

"They should have given him back a long time ago," the president said. "And Turkey has in my opinion acted very very badly. We haven't seen the last of that. We are not going to stake it sitting down. They can't take our people."

Even before Friday's court decision, Trump — who calls Brunson "our wonderful Christian pastor" — had warned of new economic sanctions if the protestant clergyman is not freed

"We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!!" he said in a tweet Friday.

The U.S. recently slapped financial sanctions on two Turkish ministers and doubled steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey over the pastor's continued detention, causing economic upheaval in Turkey.

In retaliation, Turkey on Wednesday imposed tariffs on certain U.S. goods.

The Turkish lira fell 5 percent Friday after the Turkish court released its decision.

Brunson, who attended Wheaton College, has lived in Turkey for more than two decades as pastor of a small local church. Vice President Mike Pence has been especially outspoken on the Brunson case, particularly before Christian audiences.

On Tuesday, Pence tweeted that Brunson is innocent and "justice demands that he be released." He said Turkey would "do well not to test @POTUS Trump's resolve" over the issue.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has bristled at such U.S. pressure.

“I call out to those in the United States. It is a shame,” Erdogan said in a speech on Saturday. “You are trading a strategic NATO ally for a priest.”

Brunson was indicted on charges of “acting in a parallel and coordinated fashion” with Turkey’s two chief enemies: the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and a network run by Gülen.

U.S. authorities have rebuffed efforts by Turkey for the extradition of Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania.

Erdogan, hinting at a trade for Brunson, said in a speech last year that if the U.S. turned over Gülen to the Turkish authorities "we will do what we can in the judiciary to give you this one."

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2MsuB9T </s> American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who is under house arrest in Turkey, will have to wait until the court makes a decision on Oct. 12 to find out if he will be freed, the country's president said Tuesday.

"This is a judiciary matter. Brunson has been detained on terrorism charges ... On Oct. 12 there will be another hearing and we don't know what the court will decide and politicians will have no say on the verdict," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters late Tuesday.

Brunson, who is facing 35 years in prison on controversial charges of espionage and terrorism, was remanded to house arrest and banned from leaving the country as an appeal for his release was rejected by the Third High Criminal Court in Izmir last month.

According to the indictment against Brunson that was highlighted by Bloomberg Businessweek, the pastor is accused of conspiring with others to coordinate a group of malefactors that included evangelicals, Mormons, members of the Muslim Fethullah Gulen faith group (designated as terrorists by Ankara after Turkey's failed 2016 military coup), the Kurdish-Marxist PKK terrorist organization, an Israeli, an Iranian, and current and former agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to destabilize the country.

Brunson is a pastor from North Carolina who served as a church leader in Izmir for the past two decades.

The pastor's continued detention has intensified a diplomatic row between Turkey and the U.S., which recently imposed sanctions on two Turkish ministers and increased tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports.

Turkey has retaliated with some $533 million in tariffs on some U.S. imports such as cars, tobacco and alcoholic drinks. Officials noted that they would also boycott U.S. electronic goods.

Despite the ongoing row over Brunson's arrest, which has been taken up as a cause by evangelicals, Erdogan says he cannot usurp the power of his country's courts.

"As the president, I don't have the right to order his release. Our judiciary is independent. Let's wait and see what the court will decide," Erdogan said.

Meanwhile, Turkish officials gave signals on Sunday that Brunson could be released next month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"It's a possible outcome," an unidentified Turkish official said in the report.

U.S. officials also said that the Trump administration has also decided to ease off its pressure campaign to prevent fears over Turkey's economic difficulties from spreading to other emerging markets.

"The best strategy is, right before this October hearing, to be a little bit calm because they are recognizing finally now that we're willing to act," one U.S. official familiar with the debate told the Journal. "Come October, if we're in the same place, our side is going to unload on the Turks ... Right now it's a critical time where you don't want to put them in a bind."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that Brunson could be released in October but insisted that the pastor and other Americans detained in Turkey should never have been arrested.

"I'm sure there will be some conversations in furtherance of that this week," Pompeo said. "But make no mistake, there is nothing we will share with them here that we haven't shared with them already about President Trump's demands, that these innocent people who have truly done nothing wrong, cannot be detained wrongly." </s> IZMIR, Turkey (Reuters) - The American evangelical Christian pastor at the center of a row between Ankara and Washington arrived at his home in Turkey on Friday after a Turkish court ruled he could go free, a move that may signal a major step toward mending ties between the allies.

Andrew Brunson arrived at his home in Turkey’s coastal province of Izmir, a Reuters cameraman said, having left the courthouse in a convoy of cars.

He was released after the court sentenced him to three years and 1-1/2 months in prison on terrorism charges, but said he would not serve any further jail time. The pastor has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years and was put in prison two years ago and has been under house arrest since July.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has imposed sanctions on Turkey in an attempt to secure Brunson’s freedom, tweeted: “PASTOR BRUNSON JUST RELEASED. WILL BE HOME SOON!”

Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, the North Carolina native wept as the decision was announced, witnesses said. Before the judge’s ruling he had told the court: “I am an innocent man. I love Jesus. I love Turkey.”

After the ruling, Brunson’s lawyer told reporters the pastor was likely to leave Turkey. The U.S. military has a plan to fly Brunson back to America on a military aircraft, officials told Reuters.

The diplomatic stand-off over Brunson, who had been pastor of the Izmir Resurrection Church, had accelerated a sell-off in Turkey’s lira currency, worsening a financial crisis.

Brunson had been accused of links to Kurdish militants and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the cleric blamed by Turkey for a coup attempt in 2016. Brunson denied the accusation and Washington had demanded his immediate release.

Witnesses told the court in the western town of Aliaga that testimonies against the pastor attributed to them were inaccurate.

Brunson’s wife Norine looked on from the visitors’ area.

Brunson’s mother told Reuters she and his father were elated at the news. “We are overjoyed that God has answered the prayers of so many people around the world,” she said.

Trump has scored points with evangelical Christians, a large part of his political base, by focusing on the Brunson case. The release could boost Trump’s ability to encourage such voters to support Republicans in large numbers in Nov. 6 elections, which will determine whether the party keeps control of Congress.

The heavily conservative constituency voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016. He has called Brunson a “great Christian”, and Vice President Mike Pence, the White House’s top emissary to evangelicals, had urged Americans to pray for Brunson.

“We thank God for answered prayers and commend the efforts of @SecPompeo & @StateDept in supporting Pastor Brunson and his family during this difficult time,” Pence wrote on Twitter. “@SecondLady and I look forward to welcoming Pastor Brunson and his courageous wife Norine back to the USA!”

U.S. broadcaster NBC said on Thursday that Washington had done a secret deal with Ankara to secure Brunson’s release.

“After an unjust imprisonment in Turkey for two years, we can all breathe a sigh of relief,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Twitter.

The lira stood at 5.9600 to the dollar at 1530 GMT, slightly weaker on the day after firming 3 percent on Thursday on expectations that Brunson would be freed.

Relations between the two NATO allies are also under strain over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, Turkey’s plans to buy a Russian missile defense system, and the U.S. jailing of a executive at a Turkish state bank in an Iran sanctions-busting case.

With Brunson’s release, attention may now turn to the fate of a Turkish-U.S. national and former NASA scientist in jail in Turkey on terrorism charges, as well as three local employees of the U.S. consulate who have also been detained.

Washington wants all these people released, while Ankara has demanded the extradition of Gulen. The cleric, who was lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denies any role in the attempted coup.

Friday’s decision could be a first step to ease tensions, although Turkey’s presidency took aim at what it said was a prolonged U.S. effort to put pressure on its courts.

“It is with great regret that we have been monitoring U.S. efforts to mount pressure on Turkey’s independent court system for some time,” Fahrettin Altun, the presidency’s communications director, said.

Further moves which have been discussed include the return to Turkey of bank executive Mehmet Hakan Attila to serve out his sentence, the release of the U.S. consular staff, and agreement that the U.S. Treasury avoid draconian steps against Halkbank, the state lender.

“Like the Turkish courts, the Republic of Turkey does not receive instructions from any body, authority, office or person,” Altun, the Turkish official, said. “We make our own rules and make our own decisions that reflect our will.”
A high court in İzmir, Turkey, rejects an appeal to release U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson.