By Ahval

The release of Pastor Andrew Brunson last Friday was a welcome step in the right direction, and its outrage at the disappearance and suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents is justified, but Turkey is “no model citizen” and should not be excused for its own bad behaviour towards press and opposition, U.S. journalist Eli Lake has written for Bloomberg.

Brunson had been held for two years in Turkey on espionage charges, after being accused of collaborating with two outlawed organisations in the wake of the July 2016 coup attempt. The U.S. pastor was found guilty and sentenced to over three years in prison, but was set free by the judge who said the time served while pending trial was sufficient.

The trial of Brunson, however, is considered by many to have been set up by a Turkish administration that sought “hostages” as leverage over foreign powers.

While Brunson was eventually released, Turkey still holds another U.S. citizen, former NATO scientist Serkan Gölge, who was sentenced on similarly dubious charges, as well as two Turkish consular employees, and Lake said this has severely degraded Turkey’s reputation internationally.

No less alarming for international observers quoted by Lake have been the measures taken by Turkey to silence dissent at home and abroad.

“For the last two years, the Committee to Protect Journalists has ranked Turkey as the world’s leading jailer of journalists. In October 2016, following a failed military coup that summer, Turkish authorities shut down 15 media organizations. The Turkish state has abused the Interpol system to issue a red notice for journalists who write critically about the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Lake said.

This has been accompanied by attempts to kidnap Turkish citizens from foreign countries, just as Turkey has accused Saudi Arabia of doing to Khashoggi, who disappeared on October 4 after entering the Saudi consulate to finalize divorce papers.

Since the disappearance, Turkish sources have leaked information suggesting the journalist was killed by a 15-man hit squad sent by Saudi Arabia.

“Freeing Brunson is a step in the right direction. And if it turns out Saudi operatives murdered Khashoggi, Turkey will have played a valuable role in bringing this crime to light. But none of that negates Erdogan’s transgressions of basic international norms,” Lake said.

“The Turks need to make a choice,” Lake quoted a senior U.S. official as saying. “Do they want to be a pariah state like Iran or a member of the international community?”