U.S. President Donald Trump said he would welcome American pastor Andrew Brunson in the Oval Office and thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his help regarding the case.
"Pastor Andrew Brunson, released by Turkey, will be with me in the Oval Office at 2:30 P.M. (this afternoon). It will be wonderful to see and meet him. He is a great Christian who has been through such a tough experience. I would like to thank President @RT_Erdogan for his help!" tweeted Trump on Saturday.
Brunson was arrested in December 2016 and charged in the Aegean province of Izmir with being a member of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind a defeated coup earlier that year.
After being transferred from jail to house arrest this July, Brunson on Friday was sentenced to just over three years in prison, but released due to time served and his good behavior in custody.
The charges against him included spying for both FETÖ and the PKK, a group recognized as terrorist by the U.S. and EU which is responsible for some 40,000 deaths in Turkey, including women and children.
