Pastor Brunson, is an intelligence asset. He was working with General Flynn. He has a small “church” of 25 people (cell/asset network) and has been operating in Turkey for 15+ years. Ergodan with the help of the CIA and MI6 staged the coup, in order to crack down on dissadents. If you remember the western reporting at the time, the “uprising” had nearly taken over everything in 36 hours, making it seem like Erogdan would be deposed. Only another 36 hours later (actually less), Erogdan and forces had retaken everything that he had supposedly lost. Once, Ergodan “re”consolidated power he cracked down on the “violent dissadents”, and imprisoned many, including US military intelligence operators like Brunson. Knowing the importance of Brunson to White Hats in the government, Erogdan attempted to leverage a trade for Gullen. Gullen being a popular exiled cleric who is cooperating with White Hats to disrupt the autocratic Erogdan regime (which is backed by the Turkish military generals). Brunson is a win/win, because politically it plays well with Christians before midterms, but operationally MI doesn’t “leave a man behind” and can gather intelligence from his operations directly. MAGA.
Ergodan plays both sides.