Wife of jailed American pastor meets with US Secretary of State in Turkey

Norine Brunson, the wife of Pastor Andrew Brunson, has met with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday even though she was told days earlier that she had no chance of meeting with the diplomat.

Although Norine had little hope of meeting with Tillerson, she went ahead with her trip to Ankara because she already had a plane ticket, and her husband said that he felt that God told him that he would meet with the Secretary of State.

"On Monday, Andrew told me he felt the Lord had said I would meet with Sec of State Tillerson. On Tuesday, I was told by the embassy and another senator that the meeting would NOT happen. I decided to come to Ankara anyway and arrived last night," Norine wrote on Facebook.

She revealed that she met with another official from the State Department early in the afternoon and was later told that Tillerson would meet with her.

"PTL, I just had a 20 min meeting with Sec. of State Tillerson. I do not know what will come of it, considering the sensitive period Turkey is in, but was grateful for the opportunity," she continued.

A State Department official said that Tillerson wanted to make sure that he meets with the Norine to share the most recent information he had about the pastor's case, Reuters reported.

Andrew and Norine, who had served as missionaries in Turkey for 23 years, were initially detained and held for deportation in October. Norine was later released, but Andrew was kept in detention after he was accused of being involved in a terrorist organization.

According to Turkish media reports, Andrew was charged with membership of the Gulenist Terror Organization, a term that was coined to refer to the network of U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen which is used by Turkish authorities.

The government has accused Gulen and his followers of orchestrating the attempted coup last July, but the cleric denied the allegations.

There has been some speculation that Erdogan is using the pastor as a bargaining chip to force the U.S. to extradite Gulen back to Turkey.

Andrew's case was brought up during a press conference with Tillerson in Turkey, according to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which is working to help free the pastor.

Tillerson was in Ankara to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and other government officials to discuss the Syrian conflict.

Earlier this week, Andrew sent a letter to U.S. embassy officials asking President Donald Trump to intervene in his case. "I plead with my government — with the Trump Administration — to fight for me," the pastor wrote.

A petition launched by the ACLJ calling for Andrew's freedom has been signed by over 241,000 as of Friday.