Turkey: MHP head urges retaliation post US sanctions

By Esin Isik

ANKARA

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader on Thursday called for retaliation against the U.S. sanctions on two Turkish ministers.

"Those who bully Turkey should be put into their place," Devlet Bahceli told reporters in the capital Ankara.

"Those who want their pastor back, should give us a pastor," he said referring to the U.S.-based leader of Fetullah Terrorist Organization, which orchestrated the July 15, 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.

Bahceli said the U.S. "overstepped the red line" with their recent move and it ignored being an ally of Turkey for a pastor, on whom there are many suspicions.

Previously, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the U.S. was imposing sanctions on Turkey’s ministers of justice and interior for not releasing American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who faces terrorism charges in Turkey.

Sanders said the U.S. would block the properties, if any, of the two ministers.

In a statement published Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu "played leading roles in the organizations responsible for the arrest and detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson".

According to U.S. law, those mentioned on the sanctions list will have any of their assets and properties under U.S. jurisdiction blocked and American businesses and individuals will be prohibited from engaging in financial transactions with them.

Brunson indictment

Brunson has been charged with spying for the PKK -- a designated terrorist group in the U.S. and Turkey -- and the FETO, the group behind the defeated July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey which martyred 251 people and injured thousands.

The American pastor was arrested in October 2016. The Izmir 5th Penal Court of Peace on Dec. 9 of that year ordered Brunson's continued detention pending trial.

On July 25, the 2nd High Criminal Court in Izmir decided to turn Brunson's detention into house arrest in light of his health problems.

Izmir Public Prosecutor Berkant Karakaya's indictment stated that Brunson acted in accordance with terrorist groups' strategies under the pretext of being a man of religion. It added that Brunson knew the aims of such groups and yet still willingly cooperated with them.

In the indictment, Brunson was mentioned as getting in touch with FETO's high-ranking members using their aliases. He was accused of determining his strategies by getting in touch with FETO fugitives Bekir Baz, his assistant Murat Safa and Amnesty International's Turkey branch head Taner Kilic, who is awaiting trial in prison for "being a member of an armed terrorist group".

In the technical investigation, 293 close GSM signals were detected from Brunson with fugitive Bekir Baz.

The indictment also mentions a message Brunson sent to a U.S. soldier expressing sadness over the July 2016 defeated coup.

The text message said: “We were expecting an earthquake to shake the Turkish nation. The conditions returning to Jesus were met now. Many Turks relied on the military like in the past, but this time it was too late. Another blow after the coup attempt. I think the situation is going to get worse. We'll win at the end."