Brunson’s saga started on Oct. 7, when he and his wife, Norine, were summoned to court in Izmir, a coastal city where they reside and preach. The couple, who has raised three children in Turkey, expected to be informed that day that they were being granted permanent resident status. Instead, the Brunsons were detained and held for deportation.
Tomorrow will mark the four month anniversary of a grim event. On October 7th of last year, American Christian Pastor Andrew Brunson was arrested in Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s goons and he has remained in custody ever since. We talked about this on the three month anniversary, but that was before Donald Trump was in office and could actually do anything about it. Shortly after writing that article, I spoke with one GOP source in congress who had been in touch with the Trump transition team and was told that the then President Elect had been made aware of the situation. To date, nothing has changed.
If you missed the story, the Daily Caller published a comprehensive report on how this outrage came to be. This excerpt describes how it all began.
Brunson’s saga started on Oct. 7, when he and his wife, Norine, were summoned to court in Izmir, a coastal city where they reside and preach. The couple, who has raised three children in Turkey, expected to be informed that day that they were being granted permanent resident status. Instead, the Brunsons were detained and held for deportation.
But that wasn’t the worst of it for the pastor, who heads a small Protestant flock at Izmir Resurrection Church. While Norine was ultimately released from detention, Andrew was transferred from a detention center to Izmir’s 4 Nolu T Tipi prison in early December. He was held there on suspicion of providing support to a terrorist group.
As of this week, Brunson’s family is telling the media and anyone who will listen that the pastor is being persecuted for his religious beliefs.
