For most pastors, the beginning of a new year is filled with the promise of youth programs, baptisms, and marriages. Instead, Pastor Andrew Brunson — Presbyterian cleric in Turkey, American citizen, and pawn in an international game of hostage diplomacy — is spending it in a Turkish jail. Since he was detained in October 2016, his life has been arbitrarily suspended.
Representing the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, we met with Brunson in Kiriklar Prison on Oct. 5, near the city of Izmir. Only relatives or embassy officials are allowed to visit. We are the only other Americans to have seen him.
We were in Istanbul when we were granted permission to visit. Within 24 hours we flew to Izmir, spent a restless night at a local hotel and, before the sun came up the next day, we headed to Kiriklar. Dressed plainly, as instructed, we walked into the prison, placed our shoes in plastic baskets and walked through a metal detector. The painted cinderblock walls of the unexpectedly clean entrance featured bizarrely cheery art motifs.
In the visitors’ area, plastic beaded necklaces made by inmates were for sale. Nearby, a prison guard sat at a desk, inspecting grocery bags filled with clothes he received from inmates’ relatives. During the winter, it gets cold in Kiriklar, and prisoners depend on their relatives for clothing.
After inspection, we were escorted into a…
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