Welcoming Pastor Andrew Brunson

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Madam President and those who were watching during the opening prayer, that was Pastor Andrew Brunson from North Carolina. This month marks a year since Pastor Brunson was released from a Turkish prison. Norine, his wife, is in the Gallery as well. They were swept up in what I considered to be an overreaction by President Erdogan and the Turkish regime in their imprisoning thousands of people after the coup attempt in Turkey. I actually found out about this first as casework. Pastor Brunson was from North Carolina. Then, slowly but steadily, diplomacy wasn't working, and he found himself in a Turkish prison--at one point in really what we would consider to be despicable circumstances. He was in a prison cell that was designed for maybe 8 or 10 people that had had more than 20 in it, and none of them spoke the English language.

Pastor Brunson was a missionary in Turkey for almost 20 years. He had a church in Izmir, and all they tried to do for those who wanted to hear the Word of God was to speak it. For that, he was ultimately incarcerated and accused of being a part of the Turkish coup attempt. It was about a year later that they issued an indictment for him. It was a 62-page indictment that read like a horrible, fictional novel and had some of the most absurd allegations you could possibly imagine. Certainly, they were things that wouldn't keep you in jail overnight in the United States but were things that were potentially going to have Pastor Brunson convicted and spending 35 years in a Turkish prison.

We got word back that after the indictment was issued against Pastor Brunson, he was afraid that the American people were going to believe it, that we would simply move on, and that he would be left there at the fate of the Turkish judiciary. When I heard that, the first thing I told my staff is that I had to go to Turkey. I wanted to go to the prison that Pastor Brunson was in, and I had the opportunity to meet Norine, his wife, the day before. I went there, and across a table that was about as wide as this desk, I told Pastor Brunson that we were not going to forget him and were not going to stop until we got him released from prison.

In a series of efforts here, for which I have to really compliment all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, more than 72 Senators signed on to a letter that encouraged Pastor Brunson's release. More than 100 House Members signed on to a similar letter. We did everything we could diplomatically to get Pastor Brunson released.

I decided I wanted to see how the court case was going, so I went back to Turkey a few months after I had first met Pastor Brunson in the prison, and I sat through 12 hours of so-called Turkish justice. I saw this man stand before a dais of three judges and a prosecutor, where basically you were assumed guilty until you proved innocence. His defense attorney was as far away from him as is that wall. That is Turkish justice. That is not anything we can imagine in this country, but that is what this man was subjected to.

Over the course of several months and in working with the President, Secretary Pompeo, the Vice President, and a number of other people, we were able to get President Erdogan to recognize that this was a political exercise, that it was not an exercise in justice, and that he needed to be released.

A year ago this month, he was released, and now he is opening the Senate in prayer. I thank Pastor Brunson for his perseverance. He went through things that most of us cannot imagine, and Norine was his strongest advocate.

I see the Parliamentarian looking at me as if I am not supposed to recognize the fact that Norine Brunson is in the Gallery, so I will not recognize that fact because that would be a violation of the rules.

They are a sight for sore eyes, and I am so glad to have them back in this country. I know they are going to continue their missionary work wherever they can. I thank them for their leadership and their deep faith.

Thank you for opening the Senate today.

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