Pastor's return to US puts ties back on track

Trump thanks Erdogan in sign of diplomatic thaw between NATO allies

A United States pastor held for two years in Turkey arrived home on Saturday and sat down with US President Donald Trump, who signaled an easing in the diplomatic crisis sparked by the case.

Analysts, though, said that while the release is expected to ease tensions in bilateral disputes, a rocky path still lies ahead for a full diplomatic recovery.

Brunson was on Friday sentenced to jail for three years and 45 days on terror charges, but was then set free as the Turkish court said he would not serve any further time because he had already been detained since October 2016.

Trump repeatedly thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his help in the case. "It's not an easy situation for Turkey either. They had a lot of difficult situations going on and I do want to thank President Erdogan for making this possible," Trump said.

The pastor's case has worsened relations between the two NATO allies as a deal to free Brunson fell apart in August and Trump authorized a doubling of duties on aluminum and steel imported from Turkey in return, helping drive the lira currency down sharply against the dollar.

Trump did not pledge to lift the sanctions but said he welcomed an end to the "harsh relationship" the countries had over the past two months.

The decision is expected to ease the diplomatic standoff between Ankara and Washington, said Wang Jin, a Chinese expert researcher at the Northwest University and Charhar Institute.

He said the Brunson case was a test for bilateral ties and now that it has been resolved, Turkey and the US will ultimately try to restore their damaged partnership.

US administration officials have said the release of Brunson would be a significant step toward a reconciliation between Ankara and Washington. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Washington that "it is the right thing for them to do, it is the humanitarian thing for Turkey to do", adding that the release of Brunson would be "an important step" for US-Turkish relations.

Sore points

Although the Brunson case is at an end, analysts said there are still several sore points between the NATO partners, including their differences regarding the Syrian war and the US sanctions.

Serkan Demirtas, a political analyst and journalist, believes the release will definitely infuse a breath of fresh air into bilateral relations and have a positive effect, according to Xinhua News Agency.

"It will open the way for other issues to be discussed and possibly resolved in a spirit of dialogue like what it was before the Brunson crisis," Demirtas said, adding that communication channels shut down by the US side on political, military and financial matters are now expected to be reopened.

However, Demirtas also believes that a speedy recovery for the "strategic partnership" also appears unlikely because of the backlog of serious issues that have yet to be settled.

While the Chinese expert Wang hailed Brunson's release as a "big deal for US-Turkey relations," which will allow both countries to tackle bilateral issues without the emotional dimension of the pastor's arrest and may offer a chance for the two sides to seek more room for cooperation rather than confrontation, Unal Cevikoz, a former ambassador and vice-president of the People's Republican Party in the country, argued that the unusual way the US preacher was released amid reports of a Turkish-US deal "has consolidated the impression that the Turkish justice is not independent".

"Therefore, the US will continue to impose sanctions on Turkey to solve other main issues," Cevikoz said on his Twitter account.

Xinhua contributed to this story.