Andrew Brunson was arrested in October 2016 in Izmir, Turkey. | Emre Tazegu/AP Photo U.S. sanctions Turkish officials over detained pastor

The Treasury Department has sanctioned two senior officials in the Turkish government over the continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, a rare rebuke by the U.S. to a NATO ally.

The move is likely to further strain an already tense relationship between the United States and Turkey, but it is sure to please many of President Donald Trump’s evangelical Christian supporters who have been pushing for Brunson’s release.


White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Wednesday's press briefing that Trump is unhappy with Turkey over the detention, which has lasted almost two years.

"At the president's direction, the Department of Treasury is sanctioning Turkey's minister of justice and minister of interior, both of whom played leading roles in the arrest and detention of Pastor Brunson," Sanders said. Any property held by the officials in the U.S. is blocked, and Americans are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them, she said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Brunson's "unjust detention and continued prosecution by Turkish officials is simply unacceptable." In a release announcing the sanctions, Mnuchin said, "President Trump has made it abundantly clear that the United States expects Turkey to release him immediately."

Brunson was arrested by Turkey's government in October 2016 on charges of aiding a terrorist organization and for espionage, and the U.S. government has pressed for his release.

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The relationship between Turkey and the United States has been on a downward slide for years, with disagreements over a range of issues, from how to deal with Kurdish fighters in Syria to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's increasingly authoritarian rule.

Still, imposing direct sanctions on a fellow NATO member was unusual.

“It’s certainly the first time I can think of” the U.S. sanctioning a NATO ally, said Danny Glaser, a former assistant secretary for terrorism and financial crimes in the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama. “It’s a very significant step."

Glaser said he believes the sanctions were legally justified: “I certainly regard it as a human rights violation to unlawfully detain somebody, so I think it falls within the scope of the Global Magnitsky Act.”

The Magnitsky Act, the law cited by Treasury in its action Wednesday, allows the U.S. government to sanction individuals who it believes may be violating human rights.

Erdoğan, for his part, has been incensed that the U.S. has not yet handed over Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric whom the Turkish leader alleges was behind a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Some analysts suspect Turkey is holding Brunson to force the U.S. to extradite Gülen.

U.S. officials have tried to solve their problems with Turkey through diplomacy and other means, mindful that the country is a decades-old NATO member that hosts U.S. troops. But the tensions are not going away.

"Erdoğan has left them basically little choice but to impose sanctions," said Jonathan Schanzer, a Turkey analyst with the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Schanzer said the Trump administration's sanctions were "aiming right at the heart of the Erdoğan government."

"It's not something anybody would take lightly," he said. "But I also think that having sanctions hit the lower level institutions or functionaries probably would not get the attention of Erdoğan, who has really been deaf to the pleas of the United States for many years."

The Turkish embassy in Washington was not available to comment.

Charles Kupchan, who served as a senior aide on European affairs for Obama, said he expected Erdoğan to try to retaliate against the U.S. in some way. But Kupchan added that he did not see the political disagreements between the two countries leading to a break in the geostrategically sensitive defense relationship, despite Turkey’s recently wandering eye.

“The United States needs Turkey. It's an important strategic asset, and it is a source of stability of sorts in a region that is falling apart,” he said. “And Turkey needs the United States and NATO. Where's it going to go? The Turks have been flirting with the Russians, but that doesn't strike me as a serious strategic option."

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council and member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, praised the administration's decision.

“It’s a new day,” Perkins told POLITICO. “This administration is making clear that religious freedom and the well-being of Americans is at the forefront. So they’re taking action."

Lorraine Woellert and Rebecca Morin contributed to this report.