President Donald Trump has appointed Andrew Brunson to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF<\/a>).<\/h3>\nThe commission announced the appointment on 16 September. Brunson sits with Bishop Robert Barron and Joe Grogan, a former White House Domestic Policy Council director, as Trump\u2019s picks. Trump has also nominated Jane Lynch as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, a State Department post that needs Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n![\"American](\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brunson-trump.webp\")
<\/source><\/picture>American pastor Andrew Brunson (left) prays for US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 13, 2018, a day after a Turkish court convicted him on terrorism-related charges but released him based on time served. Brunson\u2019s two-year detention had triggered a diplomatic crisis between Ankara and Washington. (Photo: Roberto Schmidt\/AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUSCIRF is a bipartisan congressional agency set up in 1998. It watches religious freedom abroad and advises the president, the secretary of state and Congress.<\/p>\n
Brunson spent 23 years as a missionary in Turkey and led a Protestant church in \u0130zmir. Police detained him in October 2016. Prosecutors accused him of aiding armed groups and espionage. He denied the charges. Washington said the file lacked evidence. USCIRF now calls those charges false and says diplomacy won his release.<\/p>\n
In September 2017 President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan appeared to float a swap for Fethullah G\u00fclen, then living in the United States and accused by Ankara of the July 2016 coup attempt. G\u00fclen denied it. He died in October 2024. Critics said Brunson had become a bargaining chip. Turkish officials said the courts were independent.<\/p>\n
Brunson moved from prison to house arrest in July 2018. The US Treasury sanctioned then\u2013justice minister Abd\u00fclhamit G\u00fcl and interior minister S\u00fcleyman Soylu on 1 August 2018. On 12 October 2018 an \u0130zmir court convicted him of aiding a terrorist organisation and sentenced him to three years, one month and 15 days. Time already served meant he walked free that day. The conviction stood. He left Turkey hours later. Washington and Ankara dropped the reciprocal sanctions the next month.<\/p>\n
USCIRF\u2019s 2026 annual report again urged the State Department to put Turkey on its Special Watch List. It cited pressure on Alevis, Protestant Christians and Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, speech cases over \u201cinsult to religious values,\u201d and security labels used against foreign clergy.<\/p>\n
Source: Turkish Minute, 22 September 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n
![\"American](\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brunson-trump.webp)
<\/source><\/picture>USCIRF is a bipartisan congressional agency set up in 1998. It watches religious freedom abroad and advises the president, the secretary of state and Congress.<\/p>\n
Brunson spent 23 years as a missionary in Turkey and led a Protestant church in \u0130zmir. Police detained him in October 2016. Prosecutors accused him of aiding armed groups and espionage. He denied the charges. Washington said the file lacked evidence. USCIRF now calls those charges false and says diplomacy won his release.<\/p>\n
In September 2017 President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan appeared to float a swap for Fethullah G\u00fclen, then living in the United States and accused by Ankara of the July 2016 coup attempt. G\u00fclen denied it. He died in October 2024. Critics said Brunson had become a bargaining chip. Turkish officials said the courts were independent.<\/p>\n
Brunson moved from prison to house arrest in July 2018. The US Treasury sanctioned then\u2013justice minister Abd\u00fclhamit G\u00fcl and interior minister S\u00fcleyman Soylu on 1 August 2018. On 12 October 2018 an \u0130zmir court convicted him of aiding a terrorist organisation and sentenced him to three years, one month and 15 days. Time already served meant he walked free that day. The conviction stood. He left Turkey hours later. Washington and Ankara dropped the reciprocal sanctions the next month.<\/p>\n
USCIRF\u2019s 2026 annual report again urged the State Department to put Turkey on its Special Watch List. It cited pressure on Alevis, Protestant Christians and Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, speech cases over \u201cinsult to religious values,\u201d and security labels used against foreign clergy.<\/p>\n
Source: Turkish Minute, 22 September 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n