![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fdd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Trump-Erdo-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Aykan Erdemir|\u00a0 www.fdd.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n A Turkish court on June 11 convicted<\/a> Metin Topuz, a Turkish national and liaison officer for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, to eight years and nine months in prison on baseless charges of aiding an armed terror organization. Topuz is just the latest victim of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s hostage diplomacy<\/a>, but he will not be the last if Washington continues to grant impunity to Turkey\u2019s Islamist strongman.<\/span><\/p>\n Turkish prosecutors have brought spurious and politically motivated charges against some 50 individuals with ties to the United States and the European Union, including citizens, permanent residents, and employees<\/a>, since Turkey\u2019s failed coup attempt in 2016. Borrowing from Tehran\u2019s hostage-taking playbook, Erdogan has used these prisoners as bargaining chips to extract concessions from Turkey\u2019s U.S. and European treaty allies in NATO. <\/span><\/p>\n Erdogan\u2019s highest-profile victim, American pastor Andrew Brunson, spent almost two years in pre-trial detention on farcical charges<\/a> of terrorism, coup-plotting, and espionage. The Turkish president first offered to trade Brunson for Reza Zarrab<\/a>, the ringleader of Iran\u2019s sanctions-evasion network arrested<\/a> by U.S. authorities in March 2016, and then for Fethullah Gulen<\/a>, Erdogan\u2019s former-ally-turned-archnemesis<\/a> residing in Pennsylvania. Similarly, the Turkish president tried to trade German national Deniz Yucel, the German daily Die Welt<\/em>\u2019s Turkey correspondent, who was arrested<\/a> in February 2017 on charges of spreading terrorist propaganda. Erdogan reportedly offered to release Yucel in exchange first for Berlin\u2019s extradition<\/a> of two Turkish generals and then for the unblocking<\/a> of German arms exports to Turkey.<\/p>\n Other U.S.-affiliated individuals<\/a> held hostage by Erdogan over the course of the last four years include Turkish-American dual citizens Ismail Kul<\/a>, a chemistry professor at Widener University, and Serkan Golge<\/a>, a NASA scientist, along with two U.S. consular employees, Hamza Ulucay<\/a> and Nazmi Mete Canturk<\/a>. Turkey released<\/a> Kul and Golge in early 2019, after 17 months<\/a> and 34 months<\/a> of imprisonment, respectively. Yet Ankara still prevents both scholars from returning to the United States, which prompted the Committee of Concerned Scientists to pen a letter<\/a> to President Donald Trump in December 2019, urging him to assist Kul and Golge \u201cin any way possible so they may \u2026 get back to their lives.\u201d The two consular workers \u2013 Ulucay, released<\/a> in January 2019 after 18 months in prison, and Canturk, freed<\/a> from house arrest in June 2018 \u2013 are similarly banned from leaving Turkey.<\/p>\n Eric Edelman, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, and Jake Sullivan, former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, observe<\/a> that the U.S. administration\u2019s \u201clack of clear messaging has only reinforced Erdogan\u2019s conviction that the United States will not meaningfully challenge him.\u201d Similarly, Henri Barkey, former member of the State Department Policy Planning Staff, warns<\/a> that a \u201cU.S. failure to show that it stands by its people will cripple the State Department\u2019s ability to represent America overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n To push back against Erdogan\u2019s hostage diplomacy, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), co-chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, introduced a bill with bipartisan support, S.1075<\/a>, the Defending United States Citizens and Diplomatic Staff from Political Prosecutions Act of 2019, which would require the president to impose sanctions on all senior Turkish officials responsible for the wrongful detentions of locally employed staff and citizens. In a Washington Post<\/em> op-ed<\/a> last year, Sen. Wicker warned that any negotiation over the fate of U.S. hostages \u201cwould only reward Erdogan\u2019s bad behavior,\u201d and that \u201c[a]s with Brunson, only stiff political and economic pressure will work.\u201d In its 2020 Annual Report<\/a>, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended passing S.1075 and \u201cthe imposition of sanctions on responsible Turkish officials.\u201d<\/p>\n Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement<\/a> on June 11 noting that the United States is \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by the conviction of Topuz, a sentiment reiterated in tweets<\/a> expressing \u201cdeep disappointment\u201d from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara. Al-Monitor<\/em> Senior Correspondent Amberin Zaman rightly called<\/a> this a \u201cmuted response\u201d that will strengthen Erdogan\u2019s conviction that Trump will \u201ccontinue to leave Turkey off the hook.\u201d Unless Washington makes clear to Erdogan that there will be serious consequences for hostage diplomacy, the list of victims will only continue to grow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n <\/a>Turkey Program Senior Director<\/a><\/p>\n Aykan Erdemir is a former member of the Turkish parliament and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD\u2019s <\/em>Center on Military and Political Power<\/em><\/a> (CMPP). For more analysis from Aykan and CMPP, please subscribe <\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>. Follow him on Twitter <\/em>@aykan_erdemir<\/em><\/a>. Follow FDD on Twitter <\/em>@FDD<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>@FDD_CMPP<\/em><\/a>. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fdd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Website_NewHeadshot_Square_Aykan.jpg\")
Aykan Erdemir<\/p>\n