By Daniel Moritz-Rabson
Breaking News Reporter
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Turkey on Friday to release a U.S. pastor being held on terror charges, saying the issue was "very serious."
The White House announced on Wednesday that it was sanctioning Turkey's interior and justice ministers for their involvement in the case of pastor Andrew Brunson, who was detained in October 2016 and charged with political or military espionage and support of a terrorist organization.
Turkey called the sanctions "unacceptable" and vowed to respond.
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Two Turkish employees of U.S. consulates in Turkey are also currently imprisoned on terror charges. And Serkan Golge, a NASA scientist, was convicted in February on terrorism charges. He is serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
"Brunson needs to come home, as do all the Americans being held by the Turkish government," Pomepo told journalists before meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Singapore. "It's pretty straightforward. Pastor Brunson is an innocent pastor, and they need to let him return to the United States."
Çavuşoğlu said that during the meeting, he reiterated to Pompeo that "the threatening language and sanctions does not achieve anything." He also said that he and Pompeo understood the conflict could not be solved in one discussion, and that they "have agreed to work together, closely cooperate and keep the dialogue in the coming period."
Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department, echoed those comments, saying, "They agreed to continue to try to resolve the issues between our two countries."
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Brunson, 50 years old, was released from prison and placed under house arrest at the end of July, but his trial is ongoing. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said on its website that Brunson was initially held with 21 inmates in a room constructed to hold eight people. He faces a sentence of up to 35 years in prison, his lawyer told NBC News.
Brunson, who is from North Carolina, has lived in Turkey for 23 years. His case has attracted attention from a range of government officials, including the president and senators. Last month, a bipartisan coalition of senators introduced legislation to restrict Turkey's access to international loans until the country stopped its "unjust detention of U.S. citizens."
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