Pastor Brunson arrives in Washington

WASHINGTON: Andrew Brunson, the US pastor who had been detained in Turkey for two years, landed at Andrews Air Force base outside Washington, a US religious freedom official wrote on his Twitter account on Saturday afternoon.

Tony Perkins, who is on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and traveled with Brunson, wrote that the plane carrying Brunson and his wife had landed.

Brunson was slated to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House later on Saturday.

Earlier in the day Trump thanked Turkey for freeing Brunson but denied cutting a deal with Ankara.

Brunson is an evangelical Presbyterian clergyman who lived in Turkey for nearly half his life, initially moving there in 1993 as part of a missionary programme.

He was first detained in October 2016, faced up to 35 years in jail. Prosecutors then demanded a sentence of up to 10 years. The pastor steadfastly insisted he was not guilty.

"I am an innocent man. I love Jesus. I love Turkey," he said in his final defence.

When the verdict was read out, Brunson wept and hugged his wife Norine.

After gathering his belongings, Brunson was driven to the airport in the Turkish city of Izmir, where he boarded a US military plane for Germany.

Upon arrival there for a refueling stop, he kissed an American flag presented to him by Richard Grenell, the US ambassador in Berlin.

While the strain in US-Turkish relations eased with Brunson’s release, problems remain.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Turkey to "quickly release" other Americans in detention.

He said Washington would "continue to work hard to bring home all American hostages and those wrongfully imprisoned and detained."

Nasa scientist Serkan Golge, a dual US-Turkish national, was jailed for seven and a half years in February on terror charges, a term reduced to five years last month.

And two Turkish employees of US diplomatic missions remain in jail. One of them, former Adana consulate staffer Hamza Ulucay, was denied release on Friday. Anthony Skinner, director for Middle East and North Africa at the Verisk Maplecroft consultancy, said that the US and Turkey had plenty of disagreements beyond Brunson.