US hits Turkey with sanctions [W: 33]

8/1/18
The US has imposed sanctions on Turkey's justice and interior ministers over the continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson. The evangelical from North Carolina has been held for nearly two years over alleged links to political groups. "We believe he's a victim of unfair and unjust detention," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. Turkey has said US demands for Mr Brunson's release are "unacceptable", adding it will respond to "hostility". "We call on the US administration to row back from this wrong decision," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Mr Brunson is a long-term resident in Turkey. He lived with his wife and three children while working as the pastor of the small Izmir Resurrection Church, which had a congregation of about two dozen. The authorities accuse him of having links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Gulenist movement, which Turkey blames for a 2016 failed coup. Mr Brunson has denied charges of espionage, but faces up to 35 years in jail if found guilty.

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Rogue Valley said:

Andrew Brunson: US hits Turkey with sanctions over jailed pastor

Pastor Andrew Brunson was transferred into house arrest last month.



After the "coup attempt" two years ago, the Erdogan regime arrested 20 Americans charged with being complicit including Pastor Brunson. Erdogan says he will swap Brunson for Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who lives in exile in the US.

All the Americans arrested for "coup" complicity should be released. We hear much from the Trump administration about Pastor Brunson. Could that be because he is an Evangelical pastor? Why does the Trump administration never ever mention Serkan Golge, a NASA physicist working on a project to send astronauts to Mars? In February, Serkan Golge was convicted of terrorism charges that the U.S. says are “without credible evidence.” He was sentenced to 7½ years in prison.

Related: Wife of NASA scientist jailed in Turkey 'frustrated' by Trump's focus on pastor's case

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Felis Leo said:

I support this action of sanctioning the Turkish ministers. However, I think it is time that Donald Trump immediately orders the pullout of all our forces, equipment and ordnance from Turkey without delay.

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Roadvirus said:

Go one further by suggesting to NATO they dump Turkey as a member.

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beerftw said:

They should have been kicked out of nato when they invaded cyprus and also attacked greek forces who were part of nato. They are a little too unstable as of lately so much even russia may be skeptical of gaining them as an asset if they get booted out of nato, the leader seems to care only about his agenda, and only works for nato when it suits him.

I can see turkey backstabbing everyone and anyone who gets in the way of their agenda, and someone like that should not ever be in nato.

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Lord Tammerlain said:

No mention of the Greek military coup on Cyprus that lead to the Turkish invasion?

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beerftw said:

No real need to mention it for the fact cyprus is or never was part of nato. While greece holding troops there with turkey invading counts as attacking a nato ally. That is not to mention the mass ethnic cleansing turkey did there while also invading under the pretext of preventing ethnic cleansing.

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Intercommunal violence erupted on 21 December 1963, when two Turkish Cypriots were killed at an incident involving the Greek Cypriot police. The violence resulted in the death of 364 Turkish and 174 Greek Cypriots,[93] destruction of 109 Turkish Cypriot or mixed villages and displacement of 25,000–30,000 Turkish Cypriots. The crisis resulted in the end of the Turkish Cypriot involvement in the administration and their claiming that it had lost its legitimacy;[17] the nature of this event is still controversial. In some areas, Greek Cypriots prevented Turkish Cypriots from travelling and entering government buildings, while some Turkish Cypriots willingly withdrew due to the calls of the Turkish Cypriot administration.[94] Turkish Cypriots started living in enclaves; the republic's structure was changed, unilaterally, by Makarios and Nicosia was divided by the Green Line, with the deployment of UNFICYP troops.[17]

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Lord Tammerlain said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus#1974_coup,_Turkish_invasion_and_division


Given what happened in 1963, what do you think what would have happened to Cypriot turks in 1974 with the illegal coup (lead by Greece which Cyprus was not part of)

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beerftw said:

Well a coup attempt is not an invasion though, if that counted as an invasion the united states would be officially at war with most the world. The greek population did the deed, with greece throwing any backing they could at it, however turkey actually invaded and performed ethnic cleansing, as well as attacked a nato ally, if nato had actually done what is was supposed to nato would have invaded turkey, but instead they slid it under the rug. This lead to greece not participating in nato for quite a while.

To make it worse turkey still has plans today to invade the greek isles beyond what they took in that conflict, as far as turkey is concerned, the greek isles as a whole are turkish property.

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Lord Tammerlain said:

How do you feel about Crimea?

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Roadvirus said:

Go one further by suggesting to NATO they dump Turkey as a member.

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beerftw said:

I also feel it is an illegal annexation, as no legal framework allows those people a choice to leave ukraine.

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beerftw said:

However it was not an invasion, russian troops were already present there from a deal over lease of crimea by russia, russia just exploited the peoples will to justify annexation.

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8/4/18
Turkey’s president said Saturday the country will freeze the assets of two United States officials in retaliation for sanctions against Turkey’s justice and interior ministers over the detention of an American pastor, while attempting a conciliatory tone. Speaking in Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had been “patient” since the U.S. Treasury sanctions imposed Wednesday, but ordered authorities to “freeze the assets of America’s justice and interior ministers in Turkey, if there are any.” It is unclear who that would affect, due to differing Cabinet roles in the United States than in Turkey, or if the intended officials even have any holdings in Turkey. Erdogan called the sanctions a “serious disrespect towards Turkey” and accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for demanding the release of evangelical pastor Andrew Craig Brunson while ally Turkey tries him over alleged links to terror groups.

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Rogue Valley said:

Crimea, just like every Oblast (region) in the country, belongs to all of the Ukrainian people. This is why one doesn't need to present papers when traveling to different regions. Article 73 of the Ukraine Constitution explicitly states that any alteration to the territory of Ukraine must be approved via an All-Ukraine-Referendum. Crimea belongs to 100% of the Ukrainian people, not just the 4% that live there.



Wrong. It was an infiltration more than a traditional invasion. Units of the 18th Motor Rifle Brigade, the 31st Air Assault Brigade, and the 22nd Spetsnaz Brigade were all transferred to Sevastopol by ship (and design) prior to the takeover. This is why those Russian forces were masked and had no insignia on their uniforms. It was an illegal Russian takeover and annexation that is not recognized by most nations in the world.

Putin in 2008: 'Crimea is not disputed territory' and is part of Ukraine

Putin reveals secrets of Russia's Crimea takeover plot

Putin says plan to take Crimea hatched before referendum

Putin's 'Human Rights Council' Accidentally Posts Real Crimean Election Results

U.N. General Assembly declares Crimea secession vote invalid

Armed and masked Russian Spetznaz soldiers with no insignia guarding the Crimean parliament building until Moscow proxy MP's can be installed.

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Rogue Valley said:

Erdogan strikes back.....

Turkey to Freeze Assets of 2 U.S. Officials as Retaliation for Sanctions



Kinda pathetic. But then again Erdogan doesn't push those that can push back.

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beerftw said:

Your first paragraph was made specifically for crimea, to keep them from voting to leave knowing they would vote in mass to leave but that the rest of ukraine would not.

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beerftw said:

On the second paragraph russia already leased crimean ports and had permission to have soldiers there

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beerftw said:

Russia at such point might have felt threatened enough to start ww3, which would have led to nuclear war and the near erradication of mankind.

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beerftw said:

Notice all this griping and no one runs to ukraines side? well it is because they know the results, and hoped to win by proxy and found out later russia would have none of it.

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Rogue Valley said:

No. The Constitutional Article didn't specify Crimea. It said any alteration(s) to Ukraine territory.

Article 73 applies to any of the 24 oblasts (national provinces) as well as to Crimea (a national region).



If you had ever bothered to read the lease agreements, you would know that Russian soldiers/sailors were forbidden to venture out of their bases beyond a certain point. Also, no fixed or rotary flights were allowed. (Both restrictions were violated)



Lol. Pure hyperbole. Geezus.



100 nations support the Ukraine position. In addition, Russia is under economic sanctions and travel restrictions by the US, the 28 member EU, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

General Assembly Adopts Resolution Calling upon States Not to Recognize Changes in Status of Crimea Region

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beerftw said:

On one that was made specifically to keep crimea in ukraine, crimea never once wanted to be part of ukraine so ukraine set it into law to prevent them from leaving.

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Rogue Valley said:

You're just spouting troll propaganda straight from the Olgino factory. I think folks here can now easily see what you're about.

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beerftw said:

So did ukraine not change their laws and diminish crimean autonomy in an effort to hold them down? Did the crimeans not try and seperate from ukraine since the soviet union broke up? Or are you just defending ukraine without the slightest knowledge on the region and just repeating anti russia everything?

Here is a fun one for you, many russians see ukrainians and russians as the same people while many ukrainians see themselves as a seperate ethnicity, the russians logic was that ukraine belarus and russia all formed from kieven rus, aka modern day kiev in ukraine. The name then of the kieven rus was also known as ruscia and ruzzia, easy to see how it later became russia, and those people hold a common ancestry back to the same land. Just throwing this all out there because at this point I doubt you have anything other than spouting anti russia propoganda and likely could not take the time to actually research anything.

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Rogue Valley said:

I've visited where the Kievan Rus capital was situated. You're just another wannabe Putinista spouting the usual Kremlin propaganda.

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