U.S. Pastor Denies Terror Links, Spying in Turkish Court
The Associated Press’s Mehmet Guzel reports that Andrew Craig Brunson, an American evangelical pastor and long-time Turkish resident, is on trial for charges that he spied against Turkey and had links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Brunson was the pastor of a small church in Izmir, Turkey, before being arrested after Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt. He denied all charges, saying in his defense statement, “I am a Christian pastor. I did not join an Islamic movement. Their aims and mine are different.” If convicted, Brunson could face up to 35 years in prison.