Turkey on Wednesday released a NASA scientist with dual US-Turkish citizenship whose nearly three-year detention had soured relations, but the Nato allies remained divided over issues including Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile system. Serkan Golge, a naturalized US citizen working for the US space agency in Houston, was arrested in July 2016 on a visit back to Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish authorities charged Golge with ties to self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan accused of orchestrating the mutiny. Golge was sentenced in 2018 to seven and a half years in prison despite US State Department protests that there was no credible evidence. His wife, Kubra Golge, expressed joy at his release but said that he remained banned from traveling outside Turkey.
"We are happy but he still rejects the charges against him," she told AFP by email. "Hope we can come back soon to the US." State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said that the United States would press for Golge to be able to return to the United States "as soon as possible." "We want to commend them for doing the right thing today by releasing him," Ortagus told reporters. "We think it's welcome news."
Ortagus said that the United States was still seeking the release of detained local employees of US diplomatic missions in Turkey. Golge was freed shortly after Erdogan spoke by telephone with US President Donald Trump, although an official summary by Turkey did not mention discussion of the Golge case.
Turkey in October also released an American pastor caught up in the crackdown, Andrew Brunson. His case had become a cause celebre among the conservative Christian base of Trump, who pressed Turkey through tariffs that sent the lira currency into a tailspin. Golge's case had triggered growing anger in the United States.