Free Republic

The Turkish government is using Pastor Brunson's detention as a bargaining chip. In exchange for his freedom, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had demanded the return to Turkey from the United States of self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, a political opponent, whom Erdogan claims was behind the failed coup against him in the summer of 2016. "They are treating the U.S. government with contempt and paying no price for it." — Pastor Andrew Brunson, March 17, 2018. Turkey -- a NATO member holding an American political prisoner hostage -- has so far faced no consequences. An American Pastor, Andrew Brunson,...

The Turkish Parliament on Wednesday extended the ongoing state of emergency for another three months, the Hurriyet daily newspaper reported. This is the seventh time that the state of emergency has been extended. The last time was in January. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the three-month state of emergency on July 20, 2016, five days after the failed coup that summer, saying it would enable authorities to take swift action against those responsible for the putsch. Wednesday’s extension means the upcoming early elections on June 24 will be held under the emergency rule despite widespread disapproval from opposition parties. The...

I nominate Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey, as the most inconsistent, mysterious, and therefore most unpredictable major politician on the world stage. His victory in a referendum last Sunday formally bestows him with near-dictatorial powers that leave Turkey, the Middle East, and beyond in a greater state of uncertainty than ever.Here are some of the puzzles:Mystery #1: Holding the referendum. The Turkish electorate voted on April 16 in a remarkable national plebiscite that dealt not with the usual topic – floating a bond or recalling a politician – but with fundamental constitutional changes affecting the very nature of their...

An İstanbul high criminal court on Thursday gave prison sentences ranging from 25 months to seven years, six months to 25 journalists on terror charges. The journalists, some of whom used to work for media outlets affiliated with the Gülen movement, are alleged to be followers of the movement, which is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The movement strongly denies any involvement. There were 29 defendants in the trial, 19 of whom were in pretrial detention.

The number one concern for Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan while meeting with visiting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Feb. 15 was whether he and his family members were in legal jeopardy with the long reach of the US criminal justice system. The Turkish president wanted to take WashingtonÂ’s pulse from the top US diplomat and assess what risks he may be facing for cozying up to Russia and Iran in violation of US laws and in open defiance of TurkeyÂ’s long-standing membership in transatlantic alliance. First, he was apparently quite anxious to learn whether it would be possible...

Anti-Semitism is widespread in Turkey and intensely motivated by Islamic scriptures. Some Turkish authorities and opinion-shapers have chosen the “easy” way: Use the “Jew card” to demonize Gülen and his supporters. Many pro-government news websites and discussion forums, including pro-government newspapers, are filled with columns that claim Gülen is actually Jewish.A columnist with the pro-government newspaper Sabah, Ersin Ramoğlu, for example, wrote a column entitled “Fethullah Gülen: a Karaite Jew,” in which he “described” how “Jewish Fethullah Gülen has destroyed Turkey, such as by poisoning thousands of young people in his schools.” Then he explained why Gülen engages in all...

The United States should not provide a safe haven for the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who the Turkish government accuses of orchestrating the failed July 15 coup attempt, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump has said. “The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like Gülen, who is running a scam. We should not provide him safe haven,” retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn wrote for the Hill newspaper in a piece published on Nov. 8. “In this crisis, it is imperative that we remember who our real friends are,” added Flynn, who is the former...

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in what started as a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and any potential collusion with the Trump campaign, is reportedly investigating former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn for an alleged plan to “forcibly remove” a Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania and send him back to Turkey.

The Turkish government has hired FBI Director Christopher Wray’s longtime friend and former law partner Andrew C. Hruska to work on an unspecified proposal to the Justice Department, according to newly filed government documents.Hruska, a partner at the law firm King & Spalding, recently registered as a foreign agent of Turkey, according to documents released by the Justice Department on Saturday.The filings state that King & Spalding, where Wray worked until taking the FBI job, was hired “to prepare and present a proposal to the U.S. Department of Justice for cooperation between the governments of the United States and Turkey...

Turkish autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdogan is coming to Washington, DC, on May 16 loaded for bear.  He has an ambitious agenda and apparently feels he can achieve it all because he holds “trump” cards against the President of the United States. Erdogan and his proxies have publicly said they want to convince the United States to jettison its budding alliance with the Syrian Democratic Union (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish group that has become the tip of the spear in the fight against ISIS in Syria. On this point, they will encounter resistance...

Turkish authorities have launched a massive detention operation, arresting more than 1,000 people nationwide on Wednesday. The Turkish government says the arrests are aimed at supporters of the U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for last year's failed coup attempt. And these arrests are by no means the end of the operation. Anadolu Agency, a state-run news service, says the government aims to arrest another 2,000 people. Germany's Deutsche Welle newspaper reports roughly 8,500 police officers undertook raids in all 81 provinces in Turkey

The Turkish government is expanding its witch hunt of suspected allies of cleric Fethullah Gulen by opening an investigation into 17 U.S.-based individuals, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and former CIA director John Brennan. Turkish investigators are interested in Schumer because of donations he has received from Gulen’s supporters here in the U.S. The complaint also names several Gulenists who operate non-profit organizations here in the U.S. One of those is Recep Ozkan, the former president of the Gulen-linked Turkish Cultural Center. Ozkan donated heavily to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns and as much as $1 million to the Clinton...

Instanbul's chief prosecutor's office has launched the mother of all probes and Sen. Chuck Schumer, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and ex-CIA director Brennan are among those named for their alleged links to cleric Fethullah Gulen.

A high-ranking official from Turkey’s second-largest state-owned bank was arrested in New York City March 27. On the orders of the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Joon H. Kim, FBI agents arrested Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Halkbank’s vice president for international banking, for violating the US-led sanctions against Iran. The press release from Kim’s office accused Atilla with participating “in a years-long scheme to violate American sanctions laws by helping Reza Zarrab, a major gold trader, use U.S. financial institutions to engage in prohibited financial transactions that illegally funneled millions of dollars to Iran.” Zarrab, a Turkish citizen...

Al-Monitor has learned that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to travel to Turkey March 30. He will be the most senior US official to formally visit Turkey since the Donald Trump administration took office in January. A senior Turkish official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that Tillerson was expected to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, among others. The official was unaware of Tillerson’s full itinerary but said it would not be unusual for the secretary to visit other countries in the region as well. The official declined to elaborate any further. In an emailed...

The Turkish government has failed to convince Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency that U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind last summer's failed coup in Turkey, the BND head told a German magazine. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government accuse Gulen of orchestrating Turkey's failed coup on July 15 in which more than 240 people were killed when rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters, attacking parliament and attempting to overthrow the government.. "Turkey has tried to convince us of that at every level but so far it has not succeeded," BND head Bruno Kahl said in an interview...

America's socialists -- I mean, progressives, are enraged that President-elect Trump chose Betsy DeVos to be his secretary of education. "Not a good appointment," yelled Al Sharpton. A "proponent of a for-profit institution! She does not believe in the public school system!" complained CNN's Bakari Sellers. Wait. Is your for-profit local supermarket less "public" than your kid's school? No! For-profit institutions serve the public and usually do it better than governments do. Let's stop calling government schools "public." Call them what they are: "government-run" schools. Anyway, the charter schools DeVos supports are public. They're just not controlled by the usual...

Turkish government intelligence has determined Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22 – the police officer who recently assassinated Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov while the ambassador was giving a speech to open an art gallery in Ankara – was a member of the Gulen organization, which claimed to be the same group that staged an unsuccessful coup in Turkey in July.... ....the Clinton Foundation was engaged in a pay-to-play scheme to obtain Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s support for the Obama administration decision to give asylum to Fetullah Gulen, a Turkish Muslim imam the Erdogan government holds responsible for the attempted coup July...

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to become his national security adviser, a source with knowledge of the matter has revealed. The source told NBC Wednesday evening that Trump had settled on Flynn, who was also being considered for the secretary of defense post. The Daily News could not independently confirm the report, and the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Earlier in the evening, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the President-elect had met with Flynn and added he would make a "fantastic addition" to the team. "He has been a companion...

Turkey should be a top priority in U.S. foreign policy, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday in an article that slammed Barack Obama for failing to understand Ankara’s geopolitical position. “We must begin with understanding that Turkey is vital to U.S. interests,” retired Gen. Michael Flynn wrote for the Hill newspaper. He also called Turkey "a source of stability in the region”. Flynn was a key national security adviser to Trump during his presidential campaign and is expected by many to be appointed to a Cabinet position, possibly as defense secretary. The veteran general wrote that it...