Andrew Brunson
Arrest[edit]
As of October 2017, Brunson joined Americans under arrest for similar charges in Turkey including Ismail Kul, a chemistry professor at Widener University in Pennsylvania, and his brother Mustafa Kul, arrested in August 2016 in Bursa;[3] and Serkan Golge, a 37-year-old NASA physicist; and such non-Americans as U.S. embassy worker Hamza Ulucay, a Turkish national who worked in the U.S. mission in Adana for over three decades; and Metin Topuz, a Turkish national who worked in the American embassy in Istanbul. Mete Canturk, another employee of the embassy, was being sought on similar charges, with his wife and child questioned by investigators in Amasya;[4] and the embassy's deputy chief, Philip Kosnett, was also being sought.[5][6][7]
Brunson, 48, who was applying for Turkish permanent residency, having lived there 23 years, was imprisoned on 7 October 2016, accused of being a member of the Gülen movement, which the Turkish government considers to be a terrorist organization.[8][9][10][11] [12] The charges were later amended to include spying and attempting to overthrow the government.[13] Brunson shares a small cell with 17 Turkish prisoners also allegedly in some way affiliated with the Gulen movement.[14]
Brunson is married with three children.[1] His wife, Norine, was initially arrested alongside him but was released after 13 days.[1] Norine later briefly met American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March 2017.[1] She is described as the main source of news concerning the fate of her husband, such as the keenness of his devout Muslim cellmates to convert him to Islam.[1]
American pastor Andrew Brunson goes on trial in Turkey, denies terror links
Samuel D. Brownback. a defender of Brunson
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