Darrell Castle talks about Turkey, especially its arrest of Pastor Andrew Brunson, as well as U.S. sanctions on that country and the resulting Turkish economic troubles.

Transcription / Notes

TALKING TURKEY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report.  Today is Friday, August 24, 2018, and on this report I will be talking about Turkey.  Not the kind of turkey you might have for Thanksgiving or Christmas but the kind that is a country located on the northern border of Syria in the Middle East.  The kind that is so strategically located that it controls Russian access to its only entrance to the Mediterranean.  You may have heard that the United States is having some problems with Turkey right now and, in fact, has recently placed some economic sanctions on that country and some of its leaders individually.  In addition, there have been disagreements over the roles of Turkey and the United States in Syria, which inspired Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to go to Turkey in June of this year and work out a deal with his Turkish counterpart to avoid conflict there.

Most, or all, of the problems could have probably been resolved except for one thing, and that thing is Pastor Andrew Brunson.  Pastor Brunson has lived and worked in Turkey for 23 years but one month before the 2016 elections, he was taken into custody by Turkish authorities.  Mr. Brunson, an Evangelical Presbyterian pastor, was called to a local police station in the town of Izmir for what he assumed was a routine police procedure to renew his Turkish visa.

After being told he was to be deported within 15 days, he was held incognito for a week.  He was denied access to his lawyer, who said that he was told Mr. Brunson had refused counsel.  He was denied access to the U.S. consulate, which is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as well as a time-honored international agreement.

For a year and a half he was held without being charged with a crime.  In March 2018, he was charged with support for a terrorist group and with espionage.  He was confined to his cell 24 hours a day in conditions one might expect in a Turkish prison.  Finally, in July he was released to house arrest.  His Turkish lawyer said he was arrested because he practices the Christian faith.  His being the pastor of a small Evangelical Presbyterian church with 25 members was classified as “aiding a terrorist organization.”

The Trump administration has taken the position that he was arrested and put through a sham trial because of his religious faith.  Vice President Mike Pence said that publicly in a speech last July.  This incident with Pastor Brunson demonstrates the turn Turkey has taken under the leadership of Recep Erdogan toward radical Islam, and away from Turkey’s long relationship with the U.S. and its allies.

Erdogan rose to power democratically in 2002 but quickly began the process of transforming Turkey into a radical Islamic State.  Step-by-step he assumed lifetime dictatorial powers aligning Turkey with the terrorist organizations Hamas and the Islamic State.  He has been very friendly with Iran, resisting U.S. sanctions on Iran at every turn.  He conducts military exercises with the Chinese and has purchased Russian S-400 antiaircraft missile systems.  Since Turkey is a NATO member, he is able to provide the enemies of NATO with information on how to defeat U.S. anti-air defense systems.

U.S. administrations before the Trump administration have tried to ignore the growing problems because, I would guess, of Turkey’s strategic geopolitical importance.  The United States has an airbase at Incirlik, Turkey, which U.S. and NATO forces have used to project power into the Middle East and around the world.  The U.S. reportedly, and ominously, has about 50 nuclear weapons stored at Incirlik.  Turkey is the gateway to both Asia and Europe, serving as a passage between the two and also serving as Russia’s outlet to the Mediterranean.