Trump aide Bolton met Turkish envoy to discuss US pastor: White House

There is no sign that the United States is prepared to negotiate with Turkey over Brunson

WASHINGTON: White House national security adviser John Bolton met on Monday with Turkey’s ambassador to the United States to discuss Turkey’s detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, the White House said.

“At the Turkish ambassador’s request, Ambassador John Bolton met with Ambassador Serdar Kilic of Turkey (on Monday) in the White House. They discussed Turkey’s continued detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson and the state of the US-Turkey relationship,” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said.



Despite news reports that the United States had set a deadline for Turkey to hand over Brunson, US officials said no deadline had been set.

There has been no sign that the United States was prepared to negotiate with Turkey over Brunson, with Trump seemingly content for now to let his economic pressures continue to weigh on Turkey’s economy.



The United States earlier this month imposed sanctions on two top officials in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s cabinet in a new attempt to get NATO ally Turkey to turn over Brunson, who is accused of backing a coup attempt against Erdogan two years ago.

Last week, Trump tweeted that “our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!” and said that he had authorized a doubling of tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium from Turkey.