A Political Deal

U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson was held hostage by the Turkish president. Erdoğan will not have let him go without receiving something in return.

Even before American pastor Andrew Brunson’s fourth court hearing in Izmir, so many rumors were floating about a political deal between Ankara and Washington that the trial’s outcome was hardly a surprise. Brunson is free. The Turkish judge had the last word in the matter, but the solution to the case that has weighed so heavily on U.S-Turkey relations is a victory of diplomacy over irrationality. The price to pay for detaining the pastor any longer would have been simply too high for Ankara after the sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Back in September 2017, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself had hinted that Brunson was a hostage of sorts as he suggested a deal: Brunson in exchange for preacher Fethullah Gülen, who lives in exile in the U.S. and whom Erdoğan holds responsible for the failed military coup in 2016. Washington made it clear that the U.S. justice system is no place for such transactions.

However, the question is: What has Ankara received in exchange for Brunson’s freedom? For example, the Turks would like to continue importing gas from Iran without being subjected to U.S. sanctions, and there are other wishes concerning Washington.

The discord over the Brunson case was under the spotlight. Behind it lie deeper conflicts, for instance over politics in Syria. Tensions cannot immediately disappear from relations between Trump and Erdoğan.