WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated that he made no deal with Turkey to lift U.S. sanctions in exchange for the release of an American pastor who had been detained there and who returned to the United States over the weekend.
"We had no deal with Turkey,” Trump told reporters at the White House. "I feel much differently about Turkey today than I felt about them two days ago. I have a very good feeling toward Turkey — two days ago, I did not.”
A Turkish court ordered the release of the U.S. evangelical Christian pastor whose imprisonment sparked a row between Ankara and Washington.
The court on Friday sentenced Andrew Brunson to three years and 1-1/2 months in jail on terrorism charges, but released him after taking into account time served and good conduct.
The pastor was detained two years ago and has been under house arrest in the city of Izmir since July.
Brunson, 50, was indicted by a Turkish court on charges of having links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group and the movement of the U.S.-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Brunson has already denied the charges.
Washington called for Brunson’s release and took a series of punitive measures against Turkey over the continued detainment of the evangelical Christian pastor.
The U.S. measures, which include imposing sanctions on Turkish ministers and doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs, have led to a sharp decline in the Turkish currency. Turkey has retaliated by raising tariffs on certain U.S. imports.