Andrew Brunson

Turkish media is reporting May 19 that EPC teaching elder Andrew Brunson is being accused of being a “Kurdish sympathizer” and a “Gülenist.” The timing of the media reports potentially reveals Turkey’s response to President Trump and Vice President Pence’s pleas to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on May 16 to release Brunson from prison and allow him to return to the United States. Brunson has been held since October 2016.

“I cannot stress enough how significant these accusations are,” said Jeff Jeremiah, EPC Stated Clerk. “In fact, the Turkish government views them as nothing less than treason.”

Hurriyet, the leading English-language news outlet in Turkey, reported that prosecutors are citing Brunson for “delivering sermons to the Kurds with a ‘special purpose’”—wording that implies support for an ethnic group that Turkey is waging a military campaign against. The Kurds are a minority group in Turkey (primarily located in the eastern and southeastern parts of the country, as well in Iran, Iraq, and Syria) and for many years have unsuccessfully pressed for more autonomy.

Yeni Şafak, a pro-Erdoğan news outlet, published an article yesterday under the headline “FETO Chaplain” that condemned Brunson for supporting Islamic cleric Fethulah Gülen, who has lived in the United States since 1999. Gülen leads a loose organization involved largely in education but also in other areas. Gülen and Erdoğan are former allies, but in 2015 the Turkish government labeled his movement the Fethullahist Terror Organization—or FETO—and classified it as terrorist. Erdoğan blames Gülen and FETO for leading a coup attempt against him last summer that ultimately failed. Gülen has repeatedly denied the charge.

“It is time to redouble our prayer efforts,” Jeremiah said in a statement to the EPC. “Please take time in your worship services this weekend to plead to the Lord on Andrew’s behalf.”

In meetings held on May 16, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appealed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Andrew Brunson’s release. Brunson, an EPC teaching elder, has been imprisoned in Izmir, Turkey, since October 2016.

The EPC received reports from two different sources that both Trump and Pence advocated for Andrew’s freedom.

Jeff Jeremiah, EPC Stated Clerk, said that one of these individuals “told us that Mr. Pence asked him to reach out to the EPC directly. I know I speak for the Brunson family in expressing our most sincere appreciation to the President and Vice President for their efforts today.”

Jeremiah noted four items that occurred in the meetings:

1. Pence met with the Turkish leader first, and pleaded that Andrew’s case be expedited and resolved as quickly as possible.
2. At the lunch that followed, Trump raised Andrew’s case at both the beginning and end of lunch. His plea was very similar in language with the Vice President’s.
3. After the lunch, Pence raised it a final time.
4. Pence was personally engaged in this with Erdoğan, and Trump spoke knowledgeably about Andrew’s situation.

“We are all very grateful for the prayers of so many people in the days leading up to today’s events,” Jeremiah added. “Please keep praying in the aftermath of this meeting.”

Brunson’s situation has garnered attention from news organizations across the theological and political spectrum, including ABC News, CBS News, The Christian Post, Fox News, International Christian Concern, Jewish News Service, National Catholic Register, National Review, Presbyterian Lay Committee, Slate, Time Magazine, USA Today, World Watch Monitor, and others. Links to many of these reports are available on the EPC’s Andrew Brunson resource page at www.epc.org/forgottenamericaninturkey.

Andrew Brunson

The International Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) delivered an oral intervention March 10 to the 34th session of United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on behalf of EPC teaching elder Andrew Brunson. Brunson has been imprisoned in Turkey since October 7, 2016. The ACLJ is representing the Brunson family in legal efforts to secure Andrew’s release and return to the United States.

Also on March 9, USA Today reported that Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will consider speeding up Brunson’s trial on charges of “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” The Brunson family, the EPC, and the ACLJ strongly refute the allegation, and the charging documents state that no evidence has been gathered against him.

“Please pray for Andrew and his wife regarding these new developments,” said Jeff Jeremiah, EPC Stated Clerk. “She especially needs our prayers as she not only remains in Turkey to minister to Andrew in her weekly visits, but also deals with the emotional roller coaster of emotions when new developments occur.”

The EPC has set up an Andrew Brunson Resources web page that provides information about the ongoing situation, ways to keep Andrew’s plight in the public eye, and links to news article about his imprisonment.

An open letter from the U.S. Senate to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey, has garnered 78 signatures from members of the Unites States Congress. The letter requests that EPC teaching elder Andrew Brunson, “an American citizen who has been unjustly detained in Turkey, be immediately released and deported.”

Signatories to the letter remind Erdoğan that Brunson’s imprisonment “has been raised repeatedly by U.S. Government officials with officials of the Government of Turkey. Unfortunately, high-level efforts to secure Mr. Brunson’s release have been unsuccessful. We have closely followed developments with this case, and are deeply disappointed.”

The letter was led by Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representatives Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“I continue to be very grateful for our friends on Capitol Hill,” said Jeff Jeremiah, EPC Stated Clerk. “The letter they have drafted sends a very clear message that we want nothing less than Andrew safely back in the United States soon.”

Click here to read the full text of the letter, which is expected to be released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to national media outlets on February 16.

Other Senators who have signed are Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Christopher Coons (D-Del.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Ron Paul (R-Ky.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), James E. Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Roger F. Wicker (R-Miss.), and Todd Young (R-Ind.);

Representatives who have signed are Robert B. Aderholt (R-Ala.), Brian Babin (R-Texas), Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Mike Bost (R-Ill.), Brendan F. Boyle (D-Pa.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), Gerry E. Connolly (D-Va.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Garret Graves (R-La.), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R-Va.), George Holding (R-N.C.), Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), David P. Joyce (R-Ohio), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill), Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), Tom Marino (R-Pa.), James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.), Ted Poe (R-Texas), David E. Price (D-N.C.), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.), Steve Russell (R-Okla.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), and David G. Valadao (R-Calif.).

The EPC has received information from a reliable source that every signature on the EPC’s #ForgottenAmericanInTurkey petition is reaching a “central register” in the White House. There have been concerns that signatures were not being tallied since the counter on the petition website has remained at “1 Signed” since it launched on February 6. The same individual reported that the White House petition system is receiving higher traffic than it has experienced in the past, which is “overwhelming the register.”

Andrew Brunson

The petition is an effort to bring EPC teaching elder Andrew Brunson’s plight in Turkey to the attention of the White House and President Donald Trump.

Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talked for a reported 45 minutes by telephone on February 7. As of February 10, there has been no confirmation that the two leaders discussed anything related to Brunson’s imprisonment.

The petition is available at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/forgotten-american-turkey. In addition, citizens can contact the White House at www.whitehouse.gov/contact – page and are encouraged to share the link to the petition among their social media networks.

Brunson was arrested in October 2016 and falsely charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization” in December. He has been held for more than four months despite the charging documents presenting no evidence against him.

Blaine Hughes

Blaine Hughes, pastor of Forest Hills Presbyterian Church in Wilson, N.C., died on January 17 following a lengthy illness. He was 70.

He had served as pastor of Forest Hills since 2013, when he was commissioned by the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic as a Commissioned Pastor. A native of Fayette, Ala., he was an alumnus of Welch College in Nashville, Tenn.; Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.; and Reformed Theological Seminary.

He is survived by his wife, Jacquelyn Edmundson Hughes; daughter and son-in-law, Debbie and Ralph Robbins of Wilson; son and daughter-in-law, Bryan and Michaellynn Hughes of Wilson; daughter and son-in-law, Amory and Brian O’Neal of Sims, N.C.; daughter and son-in-law Ashley and Jarrod Milton of Wilson; seven grandchildren; sister and brother-in-law, Debbie and Ricky Carter of Norfolk, Va.; and brother and sister-in-law, Duane and Lynn Hughes of Winfield, Ala.

The family requests memorials be sent to Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, 1100 Forest Hills Road NW, Wilson, N.C. 27896.

The EPC’s own Don Sweeting has been named President of Colorado Christian University (CCU) in Lakewood, Colo. He begins his duties on October 1.

For the last six years, Sweeting has served as President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, where he also taught courses on church history and practical theology.

He previously served as Pastor of Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in Denver for 12 years.

Sweeting is a long-time CCU trustee, and currently serves on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). He also is a past chairman of the EPC Committee on Theology. Moody Bible Institute presented Sweeting its 2016 Alumnus of the Year Award.

Click here for the full announcement from CCU.