Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration imposed sanctions against two top Turkish officials on Wednesday over the country’s refusal to free an American pastor held for nearly two years, stepping up U.S. pressure on Ankara to resolve a dispute that has created fissures between the two nations.
The Treasury Department moved to prevent Americans from doing business with Turkey’s ministers of justice and interior, both of whom the U.S. accused of “serious human rights abuses” for their roles in detaining Pastor Andrew Brunson, a 50-year-old North Carolina native who was arrested three months after a failed July 2016 military coup.
Turkish officials have accused Mr. Brunson of aiding the group accused of orchestrating the coup and another Kurdish separatist movement, charges that the American pastor and U.S. officials have denied. Mr. Brunson’s allies accused Turkey of holding the pastor as a political bargaining chip, and his case has become a cause célèbre among evangelical Christian groups.
The Turkish government assailed the American move as an assault on their legal system. In a tweet, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu warned that Turkey would respond in kind if Washington didn’t reverse the decision.
“We strongly protest the sanction decision announced by the U.S. Treasury Department,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Wednesday. “We call on U.S. administration to reverse this wrong decision.”Wednesday’s punitive action deepened strains between Turkey and the U.S., two North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies who often are at odds. Like President Trump, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is loath to back down under pressure, and some analysts predicted that the Turkish leader would be less likely to relent now.
Mr. Brunson’s detention has emerged as the biggest obstacle between the two countries. The U.S. counts on Turkey’s help to fight Islamic State in Syria, but American special forces there work alongside Kurdish fighters that Turkey considers terrorists. That U.S. support for the Kurds remains a sore point for Turkey.
Turkey and the U.S. also are at odds over the conviction of a Turkish banker sentenced to 32 months in an American prison for violating U.S. economic sanctions on Iran, and over Washington’s refusal to deport Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania who has accused by Ankara of plotting the 2016 coup. Mr. Gulen has denied the allegations.
Mr. Trump and top administration officials have made Mr. Brunson’s release a priority, and U.S. officials thought they had a deal last month that would secure the pastor’s return to the U.S., people familiar with the talks have said.
But the deal fell apart amid disagreements over the terms, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Mr. Brunson was released from jail last week and placed under house arrest at his home on the Turkish coast, where he has operated a church in recent years.
The Trump administration and Mr. Brunson’s legal team, which includes Jay Sekulow, one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, fully expected Turkey to send Mr. Brunson home, according to the people familiar with the negotiations.
When it became clear that Turkey wouldn’t do so, Mr. Trump decided to impose sanctions on the two Turkish officials, the first salvo in what could be an escalating campaign to punish Turkish officials and businessmen over the case, these people said. Congress is also moving to impose penalties on Turkey over Mr. Brunson’s case.
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