Rayhan Ahmed Topader :
Brunson has been held in Turkey since 2016, accused of helping to plot a coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.The North Carolina native’s case has rapidly soured relations between Washington and Ankara, with the two sides trading increasingly heated rhetoric and retaliatory tariffs. Turkish high criminal court rejected Brunson’s appeal to be released from house arrest and allowed to travel abroad after his appeal was rejected by a lower court. Later that day, Trump tweeted, “Turkey has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They are now holding our wonderful Christian Pastor, who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage. We will pay nothing for the release of an innocent man, but we are cutting back on Turkey!” An evangelical pastor, Brunson has lived in Turkey for more than 23 years with his wife and three children, according to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), an organization led by attorney Jay Sekulow that has advocated for his release. But in October 2016, several months after a failed coup attempt in Turkey, Brunson was arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the Turkish government. He was formally indicted in March on charges of espionage and having links to terrorist organizations. The charges against Brunson include supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party as well as the Gulen Movement, which Turkey says orchestrated the coup attempt.
Turkey is not simply another NATO ally of the U.S. It has the second-largest military in the 29-member alliance, and it is a sturdy ally in a region of intense conflict and relevance to American interests. The country borders both Iraq and Syria, where the U.S. still stations thousands of its troops in the fight against ISIS. Those soldiers need air cover and supplies, both of which Turkish military bases are well-positioned to offer. It also borders Iran, where the U.S. has been seeking to apply diplomatic pressure particularly since the start of the Trump administration. Earlier this year the U.S. backed out of the multilateral nuclear deal it had negotiated with Iran and five other countries, and last week it restored some of the sanctions that pact had lifted, vowing to bring back the rest in November. And Turkey is on the Black Sea, where Russian forces operate and, among other things, annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 against Ukraine’s will. Beyond geographic considerations, Turkey has been a key partner in the fight against ISIS, a militant group that has staged attacks within its borders, and it is a rare Muslim nation that has diplomatic relations with Israel, another U.S. ally. Turkey has also been hosting more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees who might otherwise be traveling to Europe or the U.S. And that’s just in the present. The U.S.-Turkey relationship dates back decades, to their staunch partnership during the Cold War.
The U.S. deployed nuclear missiles to Turkey to exert pressure on the Soviet Union pressure so intense, in fact, that the promise to remove those missiles proved to be a key bargaining chip for the U.S. in ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. Despite being close NATO allies for decades, the relations between the two countries have never been linear. There has been many ups and downs, but this time, courtesy the inflated arrogance of Donald Trump, things seem to be turning nastier with each passing day. Washington is overtly disturbed by the continued detention of pastor Brunson, a supporter of Mr. Fethullah Gulen who is on trial on terrorism charges for allegedly supporting a group that Ankara blames for a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016. Trump is vehemently supporting Brunson on behalf of the evangelical base and is seeking his extradition. In fact, the US government has already frozen US assets of two key important and influential Turkish ministers because of their role in the arrest of Brunson. “The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!” is how Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions against Ankara in the last week of July. Not hollow threat. Trump moved quickly to implement his threat.
Though Tayyip Erdogan, having equipped with sweeping executive powers in recent elections, is trying his best to restore confidence in the Turkish currency through his typically outspoken speeches, laced with lofty nationalist rhetoric, but so far he has failed to put breaks on Lira’s downward spiral. “If they have their dollar, we have the people, we have Allah”, roared Erdogan in a public speech while inciting the Turkish nationalist sentiments. Certainly very motivating words for the common Turkish public whose vast majority now considers him a hero against the hegemonic imperialism of Trump. These words have worked well in winning the public support on home front, but they are creating more difficulties for him with regard to the fast melting Lira. His nationalist rhetoric, which are being “reciprocated” by equally aggressive tweets by Donald trump, is backfiring because the global financial markets see the tension between Trump and Erdogan to exacerbate to the point of diplomatic impasse. Any such intense and prolong standoff between Washington and Ankara does not augur well for the peace and stability in the Middle East, particularly in the Syrian imbroglio where Turkey is supposed to be an important stabilizing factor. If viewed against the recent American sanctions against Iran, the situation is further complicated for Ankara as it tries to find a way out of one of the worst currency crises ever in its history.
So, Erdogan has an alternate plan. He knows well that Putin, despite his close links with Trump, will be ready to provide the shoulder to bail him out of the thick situation. Earlier this year, Erdogan displayed similar resistance to the Pentagon’s intense opposition to Turkey’s plan to acquire a Russian missile defense system. His assumption is that Trump will not squeeze Ankara to the limit of falling into the lap of others, particularly Moscow and Beijing. The US desperately needs the logistical support of Turkey to bolster its operations in Syria. Although Erdogan has struck a defiant tone he has no other option but to put up a brave face -but his foreign ministry has called for diplomacy and dialogue to solve problems with Washington. This reflects an encouraging fact that pragmatism is still alive in Ankara and Erdogan, in spite of his nationalist theme, is also aware of the prospects of collateral damage of too much stubbornness on both sides. Erdogan has effectively capitalized on the situation by projecting Turkey as a victim and getting support from his fellow country men as well as a sympathetic support from friendly countries.Qatar is the first one to come forward in this regard. Sooner or later, Erdogan and Trump will have to resort to the negotiating table both can’t afford to let the situation to get out of control. After all, a destabilised Middle East theatre is a dreadful proposition. In an op-ed in The New York Times earlier this month
Erdogan criticized the US over its actions in the Brunson affair, its reaction to the coup attempt two years ago and its alliance with the People’s Protection Units, or the YPG, the fighting group in Syria that Turkey asserts is a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, labeled a terror group by the US. Before it is too late, Washington must give up the misguided notion that our relationship can be asymmetrical and come to terms with the fact that Turkey has alternatives, Erdogan said. “Failure to reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect will require us to start looking for new friends and allies.That answer, as you can imagine, is tough to say for certain. But the diplomatic strife is beginning to show hints of some tangible effects on the nuts and bolts of their military agreements. Perhaps nowhere can that friction be better seen than in the tug-of-war over the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a state-of-the-art warplane produced by an nine-nation consortium including both countries.Turkey has ordered more than 100 of Lockheed Martin’s stealth fighters. But Congress has pushed to block that delivery, citing the pastor Brunson’s treatment in Turkey as well as broader national security concerns.
