Donald Trump threatens Turkey over detained Pastor Brunson
"Turkey has been a problem for a long time. They have not acted as a friend," US President Donald Trump said outside the White House just hours after a Turkish court refused to release US pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been in detention in Turkey since October 2016.
- World
- Reuters & AP
- Published Date: 12:00 | 17 August 2018
- Modified Date: 06:56 | 17 August 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States was not going to take Turkey's detention of U.S. Christian pastor Andrew Brunson "sitting down," a day after his Treasury chief said Washington could hit Ankara with further sanctions.
"They should have given him back a long time ago, and Turkey has in my opinion acted very, very badly," Trump told reporters at the White House. "So, we haven't seen the last of that. We are not going to take it sitting down. They can't take our people."
Brunson was charged with terror offenses by a Turkish court and has been held since October 2016.
The Trump administration has threatened to levy more sanctions against Turkey, a move that has rattled the nation's financial markets.
Turkey is calling for the U.S. to extradite a Pennsylvania-based FETO ringleader Gülen, who is behind the bloody coup attempt in 2016, that left over 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 others injured.