A Turkish court has refused to release an American pastor at the centre of an escalating diplomatic and trade spat between Washington and Ankara, with the US warning of more sanctions.
Yesterday a higher court in the Aegean province of Izmir rejected both the appeal for Andrew Brunson’s release from house arrest and the lifting of a travel ban against him, according to the ruling seen by DPA.
Authorities are still examining the evidence against Brunson, who is also a flight risk because he is a foreigner, the court said in its ruling.
The 50-year-old pastor, who is being tried on espionage and terrorism-related charges, was detained in October 2016 and arrested that December in the aftermath of a failed coup.
On Wednesday, another court in Izmir denied his release, prompting his lawyer to file an appeal to the higher court for review.
Ismail Cem Halavurt, Brunson’s lawyer, told DPA before yesterday’s ruling that he would continue the appeals’ process at various courts.
Brunson is accused of links to the movement of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric who lives in exile in the US.
Ankara blames Gulen for a coup attempt by a faction of the military on July 15, 2016.
Brunson is also accused of having ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
Brunson, a pastor from the US state of North Carolina, who served at a church in Izmir and has lived in Turkey for two decades, has denied all the charges.
After the pastor’s trial started in April, US President Donald Trump said that he believed Brunson “was being persecuted in Turkey for no reason”.
When Brunson was moved to house arrest in July after spending about a year-and-a-half behind bars, the US said it was “not enough” and demanded his full release.
Trump has repeatedly warned Turkey he would punish his North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) ally if Brunson was not released.
“Turkey has been a problem for a long time. They have not acted as a friend,” Trump said outside the White House hours after the latest Turkish court ruling. 
“They should have given him back a long time ago. Turkey in my opinion has acted very, very badly,” the president said. “We have not seen the last of that. We will not take it sitting down. They cannot take our people.”
With no end in sight to the row over the clergyman, the two countries have slapped sanctions on each other’s ministers, as well as tariffs on imports.
The impasse has also triggered a currency crisis in Turkey.
The US-Turkey relationship was already frayed by the war in Syria,
Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian air defence system, the conviction in New York of a former employee of Turkish state lender Halkbank for violating US sanctions, and efforts to block the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.


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