ALIAGA, Turkey — A Turkish court on Wednesday rejected appeals to release Andrew Brunson, an American pastor being tried on terrorism-related charges whose prosecution and lengthy imprisonment has become a flash point in the increasingly testy relationship between the United States and Turkey.
Brunson, from North Carolina, has been charged with espionage and collusion with terrorist organizations, including Kurdish militants. His supporters and independent analysts have called the accusations baseless and say he is being used as a bargaining chip by Turkey to win concessions from the United States.
He has been held by Turkish authorities for nearly two years. Brunson’s supporters said they had been hopeful he might be released after Wednesday’s hearing amid signs of a recent thaw in the US-Turkey relationship and after a chummy encounter between President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO meeting in Brussels last week.
Wednesday, after a prosecutor requested that Brunson be remanded, a judge set the next court date for Oct. 12.
Speaking after the hearing, Philip Kosnett, the US charge d’affaires in Turkey, said he was ‘‘disappointed.’’
‘‘I have read the indictment, I have attended three hearings, I don’t believe there is any indication that Pastor Brunson is guilty of any sort of criminal or terrorist activity,’’ he said. The case has tested Trump’s preference for flattery over confrontation with some world leaders, as he is weathering harsh criticism in the United States for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin during a summit between the two leaders in Helsinki.
Trump has maintained warm relations with Erdogan even as ties between the two countries have become strained and as US lawmakers have derided Erdogan as an increasingly unpredictable and autocratic ally and called for sanctions against Turkey.
But during the NATO summit in Brussels last week, Trump singled out Erdogan among other NATO leaders for praise, saying that ‘‘he does things the right way,’’ according to a person who was there during the exchange.
Washington Post
