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ANKARA, April 18-- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday voiced his support for Andrew Brunson, an American pastor on trial in Turkey over charges of espionage and links to the Gulen movement, amid fractured U.S.-Turkish relations. "Pastor Andrew Brunson, a fine gentleman and Christian leader in the United States, is on trial and being persecuted in Turkey for no reason," Trump tweeted. "They call him a spy, but I am more a spy than he is. Hopefully he will be allowed to come home to his beautiful family where he belongs!" the U.S. president said in his first-ever tweet on Turkey, a NATO ally. The 50-year-old Andrew Brunson, a Christian pastor who has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years, was indicted for helping the Gulen movement, which Ankara accuses of being behind the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016. He faces up to 35 years in prison. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Erdogan, promptly retorted the Trump's remarks. "We are used now to Trump's tweets. He is acting as if there is no judiciary system in Turkey," said AKP Spokesman Mahir Unal during an interview with private NTV news channel. "We have our courts here and the court will decide on the pastor and we will all respect it. It is not Trump but the court that will decide on the faith of this cleric," he added. Brunson has been the pastor of Izmir Resurrection Church, serving a small Protestant congregation in the third largest city in Turkey. | 
