Erdogan accuses US of ‘evangelist, Zionist mentality’

ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed Turkey would not give into threats from the US over the case of an American pastor being tried on terror charges, accusing Washington of showing an "evangelist, Zionist mentality".

Andrew Brunson, who led a Protestant church in the Aegean city of Izmir, is at the centre of one of the most bitter diplomatic spats between the Nato allies in years that risks escalating further.

Brunson was last week put under house arrest after nearly two years in jail. But the crisis has since escalated rather than being defused, with US officials furious he has not been allowed to leave Turkey.

US President Donald Trump and his Vice President Mike Pence have threatened Turkey with painful sanctions if the pastor was not freed. "We will not give any credit to this type of threatening language," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.

Pence said last week that Brunson was "a victim of religious persecution" but Erdogan insisted that Turkey did not have the "slightest problem against religious minorities".

"It is not possible for us to accept that America gets up, especially with an evangelist, Zionist mentality, and uses this kind of threat-filled language," Erdogan added.

Erdogan’s comments come after after senior figures from Turkey’s religious minorities issued a joint statement on Wednesday denying that there was pressure against their followers.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Turkey Armenian Deputy Patriarch Archbishop Aram Atesyan and Turkey’s Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva signed the declaration among other minority leaders, Hurriyet daily reported.

"We practise our faiths and worship according to our traditions freely," it said. Both Pence and Brunson are evangelical Christians. Brunson’s Izmir church is affiliated to the Orlando-based Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).

Brunson faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted on charges of acting on behalf of two groups deemed by Turkey to be terrorists -- the movement led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen who Ankara says was behind the 2016 coup bid and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

He is also accused of espionage for political or military purposes. Brunson rejects all the claims against him while US officials insist he is innocent of all the charges. A court on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by Brunson’s lawyer asking for his client to be freed. The next hearing in his case is on October 12.