Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, I wish to speak briefly. I thank the Democratic leader for giving me the opportunity to speak for 5 minutes to do what I have done every week for the past couple of months and what I will do every week until we get a resolution; that is, to talk about Pastor Brunson, a Presbyterian minister who has been in prison in Turkey since October of 2016.

As best as we can tell, the only thing Pastor Brunson is guilty of is being a missionary who has committed 20 years of his life to working with people in Turkey who want to hear the Word of God. That is it. We can talk about--I will not today because my time is limited--all the trumped-up charges I witnessed when I spent 12 hours in a Turkish courtroom a couple of months ago or that I discussed with Pastor Brunson about 3 weeks earlier when I visited him in a prison.

Today what I want to talk about is relevant to the national defense authorization and the work we have done in committee to put Turkey on notice that this is unacceptable.

Turkey has been an ally of the United States since 1952. The NATO alliance commits every member of NATO to send their men and women in uniform into harm's way to defend the national security of a nation of the alliance. We have that with Turkey; we have since 1952.

Over the past month or so, we have seen a would-be adversary in North Korea release three prisoners, we have seen Venezuela release a prisoner, but in Turkey, since October of 2016, we have seen them hold a man for almost a year and a half without charges. Then I saw a man go before a court--and I witnessed for a whole day--being subjected to some of the most absurd charges possible. Next week, when I have more time, I will get into those.

I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who voted to put a provision in the national defense authorization that really makes us wonder whether we have to rethink our relationship with Turkey, particularly around the Joint Strike Fighter. The Joint Strike Fighter is one of the most sophisticated tactical fighters that has ever flown; arguably, the most sophisticated. Turkey is a NATO ally and, as such, they have access to that weapons system. In fact, they manufacture a lot of the critical parts for it.

What we offered in the NDAA is an examination of whether that relationship makes sense; No. 1, because of the way they are treating one of our American citizens, not letting him come back home, he and his wife; and No. 2, if that is the behavior of a NATO ally, is that really where we should be putting, in our supply chains and in our defensive systems, one of the most sophisticated weapons, one of the most important weapons in our arsenal. I, for one, think we have to look at it.

Until the Turkish Government recognizes that they are illegally holding Pastor Brunson, and a number of others, then I think we have to put the spotlight on them and hold them accountable. If I have an obligation, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate, to defend their integrity, they have an obligation to treat our American citizens with respect.

We have the amendment in the NDAA. We also have another amendment we may offer. We need to make Turkey know we believe our alliance with them is important, but it is also important to treat American citizens who are not guilty of a crime with respect and bring Pastor Brunson home.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

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