US Lifts Sanctions on Turkish Officials after Pastor's Release
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The US Treasury Department lifted sanctions on two Turkish officials targeted in retaliation for the country’s detention of an American pastor, who was released last month.
Turkey’s Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu, who had been sanctioned for their roles in organizations responsible for the arrest and detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson, were removed from Treasury’s sanctions list early Friday.
The Turkish lira extended gains to hit a session high on the news, gaining as much as 1.4 percent.
The penalties against Gul and Soylu were issued under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US government to target individuals, companies or other entities involved in corruption or human-rights abuses anywhere in the world. All assets in the US belonging to the two ministers had been blocked, and US entities had been prohibited from doing business with them.
Turkey also lifted sanctions it had imposed on two American officials as retaliation. US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen were removed from Turkey’s sanctions list, foreign ministry said in an emailed statement.
Brunson, an evangelical pastor from North Carolina who was first detained in 2016, was convicted by a Turkish court for collaborating with terrorist groups and participating in a coup attempt in Turkey that year.