Turkey: We’ll continue to hold that innocent American pastor hostage no matter what you do to us

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a not a friend of America, and he is certainly not a friend of freedom, particularly religious freedom. American pastor Andrew Brunson has learned this only too well during the two years he’s been under arrest in Turkey on trumped up charges of “terrorism” and involvement in a coup, when the only thing he’s really guilty of is preaching the Gospel. But then, that’s a pretty big crime in Erdoğan’s eyes, as commitment to Jesus Christ is incompatible with fealty to his regime.

We’ve already covered the back story of Brunson’s plight, as well as President Trump’s threat of severe sanctions against Turkey if Brunson is not released immediately. Turkey is not backing down, in spite of the fact that everyone can see what a crock the charges against Brunson are. They’ve imposed retaliatory sanctions and are now thumping their chests about it:

In what appeared to be a response to financial sanctions the U.S. announced this week against two members of the Turkish government, Mr. Erdogan said he had ordered the freezing of assets in Turkey owned by two senior U.S. officials. “Those who think that Turkey will bow to threatening language and absurd sanctions don’t know this country and nation,” Mr. Erdogan said in a speech to members of his ruling party. The announcement came hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met his Turkish counterpart in Singapore to press for the release of the American pastor, Andrew Brunson, whom Turkey has detained for nearly two years.

Diplomatic pressure and even economic sanctions won’t always yield immediate results if another country is determined to dig in for whatever reason. But this is a strange cause for Erdoğan to go to the mat over. No one believes his claim that Brunson was involved with a coup, and the more attention Brunson’s captivity gets, the harder it is for Erdoğan to gain sympathy or support from around the world. Some will blame Trump’s own bluster for Erdoğan’s intransigence, claiming Trump left him with no choice but to take this position because he left him with no way to “save face,” as if Trump owes that to a hostile dictator who is holding an American hostage. The truth is that if the sanctions put any real hurt on Turkey, it will become exceedingly difficult for them to continue holding Brunson. And no, the fact that they’ve moved him to house arrest does not solve the problem. He is still for all intents and purposes in the custody of the Turkish government, and they need to let him go. Now. And Turkey needs to pay a heavy price for what they’ve already done to this man of God, and an even heavier price if they continue to do so.