The American Center for Law and Justice declares: “Pastor Andrew is innocent. This isn’t a real trial – it’s a show trial. He’s being held as a political prisoner because of his Christian faith.”
Erdogan seems unconcerned that this persecution of Pastor Andrew could have a negative impact on Turkey’s status in NATO or its alliance with the United States.
“Turkey Postpones Hearing to July 18, Sends Pastor Andrew Brunson Back to Prison,” U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, May 7, 2018:
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was deeply disappointed today by a Turkish court decision to once again postpone proceedings in the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson, an American citizen and leader of a small Protestant Christian church who is facing up to 35 years imprisonment on false terrorism and espionage related charges. Vice Chair Sandra Jolley attended today’s hearing in Aliaga and witnessed the nearly eleven hours of proceedings. USCIRF has condemned the charges against Pastor Brunson and called for his immediate release.
“We leave the courthouse with serious concerns. Today’s eleven hours of proceedings were dominated by wild conspiracies, tortured logic, and secret witnesses, but no real evidence to speak of. Upon these rests a man’s life,” said Vice Chair Jolley. “Worse still, the judge’s decision at the conclusion of today’s hearing to dismiss all of the witnesses called by Pastor Brunson’s defense without listening to a single minute of their testimony is simply unconscionable.”
Pastor Brunson was initially detained by Turkish officials on October 7, 2016 and accused of membership in an armed terrorist organization. On March 13, Turkish prosecutors indicted Pastor Brunson on terrorism and espionage related charges, seeking a sentence of up to 35 years’ imprisonment. His first hearing took place on April 16. Pastor Brunson has lived and worked in Turkey for over 22 years….
Ashley says
WAY OT…sorry.
Just got an email from a buddy in Dayton, OH. She fears her 18-year-old daughter has become radicalized.
The family is Irish Catholic. Flannery is a smart cookie…top of her class with a scholarship to Yale on the table. She disdains social media and doesn’t own a cell phone.
My friend is freaking out. Flannery has been acting “odd” as of late. She’s expressed an interest in exploring Islam.
Flannery will be seeing a therapist in two weeks.
I did a little probing since receiving this bombshell email. I came across this:
https://www.10tv.com/article/authorities-warn-isis-propaganda-targeting-ohioans
mortimer says
Modern Turkey is just like OTTOMAN TURKEY with arbitrary justice for all, especially for Christians who are second- or third-class citizens.
The message here is loud and clear: anyone who tries to preach Christianity to Muslims will be killed by the Turkish state.
The GENOCIDAL message of Islam cannot be changed.
How long will the Western countries continue to KID THEMSELVES that Islam can be reformed. Islam can only be ABANDONED and NEVER REFORMED. Therefore, we should immediately begin ADVANCED PROTOCOLS to deprogram Muslims RIGHT OUT OF ISLAM. Only governments can do this, but they must do it or else Islam will continue the VIOLENT JIHAD.
Deprogramming is the only thing that will make the jihadists stop.
J D S says
Islam can only be reformed with the barrel of a gun…sorry world…that’s just the fact….only wish the world’s politicians could be tamed in some way..if that were possible then the world would not have a Muslim PROBLEM.
Back to Turkey…..the utmost thing that should be done is kick them out of NATO then all the other NATO nations squeeze the stuffing out of them…But there we go with taming the politicians so that they see what HAS to be done.
American politicians….I hope you are looking at what’s happening in the mid east and are taking a microscopic look at the European/Muslim situation……Now the Democrats are blinded by the fact that their “man” lost in the presidential race so they are not looking at what’s happening except in their small “political” microscopic view and when it comes to voting, no matter the situation, they ALWAYS vote in the negative, leaving progress and American security stymied.
Donald Trump is THE president either help his agenda of MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN or get out of the way and some G O P officials need to do the same.
Estee Tabernac says
You demand freedom of religion in Turkey but profess to deprogram in America. Is there anything wrong with this picture?
gravenimage says
Estee Tabernac’s demanding that we condone Muslims raping and murdering us or else we are not for freedom of religion is really just grotesque.
Lydia Church says
They want to kill him and they will grasp at any excuse they can get their hands on.
gravenimage says
Terrifying, Ashley. I hope all goes well.
Emilie Green says
Even if he had allowed to present witnesses in front of the fact-finders, those fact-finders had their orders.
David Grisez says
In 2 Timothy 3:12 the Bible states “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” NASB translation. Islam tries to control everybody in a country and force everyone into the Islamic system, which is both a government and a religious system combined together. Islam is very threatened by Christianity, because if Muslims start reading the Bible or hear the Bible preached by a man such as Pastor Andrew Brunson, this will expose the true character of Islam as being an evil system and Muslims will turn away from Islam, even though there is a death penalty in Islam for becoming an apostate. The Islamic system can not tolerate this, so Islam will persecute Christians and all other religious systems.
Battle says
Was there not a case a few years ago about an Orthodox Christian monastery falsely claimed to be owned by Islam Moslems? The Islam Moslem judge ignored the fact the monastery was built a few years before Mohammad was born. By deciding in favor of the Islam Moslems the judge dastardly stole the property from the Orthodox Christians.
Anne Smith says
And what is suprising about that?
utis says
This is the kind of justice all Europe will see if Erdogan restarts the Ottoman Empire. Of all the entries in the horse race to renew the caliphate, he is the one backed by decades of Westernization of technology plus the fifth column of Turkish “guest workers” who never left. Sadly, Turkey got its head start on the other islamist nations thanks to Ataturk’s attempt to drag Turkey away from islamic darkness (google Ataturk’s quote on islam — if Google still hasn’t suppressed it).
Armed with Western technological assets, Erdogan has no fear of any limp push-back from an effete Europe. Let’s not let this happen to America.
Indiana Tom says
….and we support Turkey because…..?
Bev says
Geographically Turkey sits at the crossroads of Europe and the middle east and during the cold war we wanted our forces stationed a little closer to the Soviet Union. We also had some strategic intelligence collection capabilities and as far as I know could still have them there. Erdogan has no business in NATO and the US needs to wake up.
R Russell says
Heavenly Father draw close to your servant and give him peace. Remind him of how you helped your people in the Bible, even those who were martyred.
Grant him and his family assurance of your love.
We were promised persecution. We know what we signed up for. May the blood of Jesus bring conversion to his guards.
DHazard says
It is inevitable. When Islam gets it’s fingers around the neck of democracy the end is near. Individual rights are the first to go. The leader claims to speak for Allah which is a duty that demands that all threats to the leader, and by extension Islam itself, be eliminated. Tyranny and injustice are the hallmarks of a Shariah based government. Where voting still occurs it is corrupted beyond recognition and made inconsequential.
Muslims are right – Islam is not just a religion but a complete way of life
Bev says
It’s a totalitarian theocracy that controls people 24/7/365.
gravenimage says
Don’t give up yet.
Manos says
Why doesn’t Trump impose sanctions on Turkey. Launch a few cruise missles into turkey.
SK says
There’s not enough to justify cruise missiles from the government’s standpoint . They might do diplomatic pressure, they might do sanctions.
Michael McGrath says
OK, what’s the deal in Not kicking Erdogan and his minions out of NATO???
As a retired US Naval Officer I sure wouldn’t want any of these folk covering my 6.
Ccme on folks, let the President and Congress know we no longer tust them in NATO.
gravenimage says
+1
Elizabeth Lawson says
Turkey needs a sharp rap on the knuckles. Erdogan is a jumped up nobody desperately trying to persuade the world that he is a somebody. In reality, he is a little man, with a small, racist and bigoted mind. He is currently attempting to be a hegemon, but sadly lacks the talent to even be a decent leader. This atrocious treatment of a Christian pastor, on trumped up, fabricated charges, is tailored to put the West on notice. Very soon, the West will return the compliment, and then we shall see the REAL Erdogan running for dear life. What a disgrace is he to other Turks who improved Turkey in every way. Kamal Attaturk must be roiling with rage in his grave.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
mr spencer, the witnesses called by American spy camouflaging as mithraist christian Evangelist were not dismissed without hearing their testimonies, their testimonies were rejected on the ground that they are credible or veracious to support the case of the culprit. If the spy feels that such testimonies were wrongly rejected he has right of Appeal to superior court to reverse the decision of the lower court. The Deparment of Justice of the evil united states has no power to declare the decision of the lower court wrong. It is a show of arrogance from evil united states to demand unconditional release of its spy. It cannot do that to Turkey as it has been doing to other countries. Idiot treacherous nation!!
SK says
I understand that this case matters to you because you yourself are Turkish, but Turkey obviouslycare about giving him a fair trial. If they have so much evidence, they should easily be able to defeat false narratives or whatever the problem is with witnesses; they just want Gulen. I have a good podcast about how Gulen factors into the situation (Erdogan has always desired to make Turkey more religious, and he thought Gulen could help him with that, until whatever happened to make Erdogan change his mind about Gulen), and I would recommend it to you if you’re interested.
Christianity is a spiritual movement. The United States, unlike Saudi Arabia, doesn’t send pastors to preach on behalf of the government, Christian groups raise the money themselves to send people overseas.
If you think Brinson can get an appeal, I won’t believe this until you show me a “FËTO” (or Kurdish separatist) trial where there was granted an appeal to a higher court. I’m not convinced Turkey would ever grant this person an appeal, even if the normal Turkish system allows it. It is clear that Brunson’s sentence is politically motivated, and Turkey would drop the kangaroo court case if they can get the prisoner they actually want.
This man is not genuinely a threat to Turkey. The United States considers this to be an unfair case because it has not been shown that there is any depth to the case.
SK says
That should say “Turkey obviously doesn’t care about giving him a fair trial”.
gravenimage says
He isn’t Turkish–but he is Muslim.
jayell says
Mr Muhammed, what is the logic of rejecting testimonies because they are ‘credible’ (= believable) and ‘veracious’ (= truthful)? They would be the very reasons for ACCEPTING testimonies! And a ‘culprit’ is only a ‘culprit’ when he/she has been proved to be guilty of an offence, and that’s only possible after proper process of law. Likewise, if a person is accused of espionage, it is only proper to refer to them as a ‘spy’ only after it has been proved in court that they are indeed guilty of that crime. In civilised circles you don’t simply trot out accusations as proven facts until the facts have been properly proven, but then I suspect that you don’t know much about civilised circles. Furthermore, I notice that you accuse the ‘evil’ USA of arrogance when its representative was present as an official supporting observer of a trial involving an American citizen, which was only her duty. Every civilised country has a duty to support its citizens when their lives or liberty might be in danger for whatever reason, and particularly if it seems that justice is not being dispensed properly by international standards. However, to accuse the USA in this way particularly in relation to Turkey shows amazingly biased ignorance in the light of the arrogance of the Turkish Government when it recently attempted control the internal affairs of the Netherlands by high-handedly sending a member of their government to compile a report on official Netherlands policy on islamic matters – which is absolutely none of Turkey’s concern! So be careful who you accuse of arrogance in future. And I suggest you look up the correct definition of the term ‘treachery’, because this is yet another word in the English language that you appear not to understand.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Jayell, it is a slip. i mean :If they are not credible or veracious. Take the correction, please
SK says
I can understand that correction.
I must ask, are you saying that the testimonies of the witnesses Brunson called were listened to by the court? How can we know whether or not they were?
(Also, the government body attending the trial and condemning it is not the Department of Justice, it’s the international religious freedom government body.)
gravenimage says
Ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
mr spencer, the witnesses called by American spy camouflaging as mithraist christian Evangelist were not dismissed without hearing their testimonies, their testimonies were rejected on the ground that they are credible or veracious to support the case of the culprit.
……………………
So Ibrahim itace muhammed is saying that this testimony was too credible and truthful to be admitted to an Islamic court.
Presumably this is a grammatical error on the part of this semi-literate Muslim–but it does make for an interesting Freudian slip…
Battle says
Sorry but God obviously did not help n the Bible the faithful who were martyred.
CogitoErgoSum says
Would you give God any credit for saving the Israelites from being slaughtered by the Egyptians when He parted the Red Sea? Even if that was a one time event, it was pretty impressive to me when I saw it on a big screen at the theater back when I was 8 years old. But then you may say the Egyptians chasing the Israelites died a pretty gruesome death, so God gets grief for that … in addition to criticism for killing the first-born of the Egyptians. I would counter by saying an earlier Pharaoh started it all by ordering Israelite babies be thrown into the Nile. Oh, it gets complicated and into whether you have faith or not. Actually, the way people are, can you blame God for staying out of human affairs as much as possible? It could be many people have been spared from horrible deaths in less spectacular ways through the centuries, but we have no way of knowing. God is a puzzle to the human mind. I wonder if we are just as puzzling to Him.
Proud Kaafir says
When Erdogan sent his own patriotic soldiers to jail what do you expect to happen to a Christian priest.
SK says
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/may-web-only/why-turkey-is-accusing-american-pastor-of-terrorism.html
gravenimage says
Thanks for the link.
Clive Stephen Delmonte says
I think the US and UK should publish a list of those countries in which their citizens will be considered by their respective governments to be outside and beyond any diplomatic or political assistance if these citizens are detained for any reason. The US and UK governments do, and can do, little enough to help these citizens but such a list would be a gesture and a warning to all.
This list should include Iran, Turkey, Gaza and others.
Battle says
Aliaga in Izmir Province depends on tourism, shipbreaking and oil refining. Until Pastor Andrew Brunson is exonerated and released, no tourists to visit, no ships to break, no oil and no other business to be conducted in Aliaga nor entire province of Izmir.
gravenimage says
Izmir used to Smyrna. In the last horrific major act of the Armenian Genocide, Muslims destroyed the Christian-majority city and slaughtered almost all of the Christians there. Only a comparatively few were able to escape to Greece.
Brother Charles says
Why should any country want to sit next to Turkey at the NATO summit , the TAQQIYA is showing through , They are not to be TRUSTED .
WESTPAC Spy says
What do you expect from a Muslim. To be more honest than his Allah? The Quran itself proudly says about his god, “Wallahu Khairul Makirin.”
That is a direct quote from the Arabic in Surah al Imran (3:54). It’s never honestly transliterated into any official or approved English Quran (Shocka!) but it means Allah is the chief of the deceivers. It’s normally transliterated as “plotter” or “planner” but there’s no doubt that the three letter consonantal root m-k-r means deceit.
In Judaism and Christianity chief or best of all deceivers is Satan.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
westpac, your satan god (holy spirit) in yahweh hero god is the father of lies and wickedness who decreed extermination of other races for evil Jews to settle and to erase the original inhabitants of Americas for white mithraist christians to settle.
gravenimage says
Ibrahim itace muhammed’s latest thing is pretending to champion Native Americans. Of course, as a Muslim he would have considered them pagans and fair game for mass murder.
Burner Jack says
That Turkey has remained in or even allowed participation in NATO is a complete abdication and obsfication of Diplomatic responsibility as well as security protocol of the highest order.
A NATO Summit needs to be held to address this malfeasance at once.
Rick says
There should be no US Military sales nor any US Miitary training contracts with the Turks, and the NRA should sever all commercial business, to include advertising Turkish firearms, with Turkey.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Jayell, i think i explained somewhere in my previous comments that since the Gospels actually taught by jesus were not recorded in his presence or any of his disciples and that the Later writers of the Gospels in Greek were anonymous reporting from speculative hearsay stories with broken chains of transmission, pagan doctrines like Godman and begotten son of God ,essentially mithraism, were imported into cannons of christianity. See Bart Erhman’s works and that of Helen Ellerbe.
Ralph says
The Koran was written 200-300 AFTER muhammads death. So muhammad DID NOT write the quran. Someone else did. So how do you trust YOUR book then.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Ralph, you lied. The Quran was recorded on the spot at the time of its revelations to prophet muhammad and It was committed to memory by the scribe companions of the prophet. After the demise Demise of the prophet it was compiled and copied into text from bones, skin, woods and stones on which it was recorded by the same people who recorded It and memorised it,all within 12 years after the demise of the holy prophet muhammad. where have you got 200-300 years after the demise of prophet muhammad? Ignorant fool!!
Rarely says
The only part of what you wrote that is incorrect is: All of it.
DragarOz says
“bones, skin, woods and stones on which it was recorded by the same people who recorded It and memorised it”
that is a contradiction, it was written and memorised? if so where is the “bones, skin, woods and stones on which it was recorded” ?
The unholy book was compiled by a Khan hundreds of years later in order to control the crazy rabid mobs and bring order to the chaos vacumn left by the great unholy unblessed is his name.
one fifth of the proceeds…. that is putting 20% tax in the people, think about it. forget religion, use logic!
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Dragaroz, you are simply a madman saying whatever comes to your mouth. you and your satan god(holy spirit) will be casted into hottest lake of hellfire burning forever.
WPM says
Does or does not your holy book want 20 percent of all income of the faithful to go towards the spreading of their faith and Jihad? Why are no records of the Koran being written in any form till after 150 to 200 years after Mohammed,s death ?Was it recorded or memorized ??Why would god choose an illiterate warlord rapist as spokesmen to lead to world peace??Why has the tribes of Islam fought and killed each other for 1400 years non stop for who is really a Moslem award ?Why are different versions of the Koran in circulation till this day if the word of god cannot be changed or altered ? Tell us who or what sect of Islam is true post it on this website inform us what is the true sect of Islam .
gravenimage says
When Ibrahim itace muhammed is incapable of saying anything coherent–which is most of the time–he just resorts to threats.
Max says
Erdogan is ticking all the boxes. He is friends with Putin and the Iranians. He has taken additional powers that make him as powerful as the Ayatollah in Iran, meaning his wishes are commands and it will almost impossible to remove him from office. Turkey used to be on good terms with Israel, not anymore. He has incarcerated all political opponents. He is transforming a country that was a mild Muslim country into a fanatic Islamic one.
And guess what? He is just starting. Expect him to transform Turkey into an enemy of the West in a few years.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
wpm, there has never different versions of the Quran.we only have different readings due to different dialects and accents or different pronounciations of Arabic words,but the text remain the same unlike mithraist bible with different versions on fundamental issues like Godman and begotten son of God In kJ and skipped in Rsv.
The European says
Turkey is ruled by sharia law. What do non-Muslims have to expect from sharia law? Discrimination and injustice, I would say. A Christian reverend who is being denied a fair trial, a Christian witnessing to be invalidated by islamic law, a Christian testimony to be nullyfied? Is that news? That’s the way sharia law has been working for 1400 years. Turkey is now leaving the communitiy of civilised countries, the rule of law -as we understand it-does no longer exist in that country, the Turks have decided to become our enemies.
gravenimage says
Turkey dismisses all witnesses called by pastor accused of terrorism and espionage without hearing them
…………………….
There is no justice in Islam.