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Turkish group froze plans for lavish Trump Hotel event during talks on U.S. pastor's fate
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/turkish-group-froze-plans-lavish-trump-hotel-event/story?id=58744546
Turkish group froze plans for lavish Trump Hotel event during talks on U.S. pastor’s fate
By Ali Dukakis
Oct 25, 2018, 3:37 PM ET
PHOTO: In this file photo is a general view of the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. at the Old Post Office, Oct. 31, 2016, in Washington D.C.
In the midst of the tense diplomatic negotiations over the fate of an American pastor jailed in Turkey earlier this month, organizers of a Turkish-American business conference quietly moved to cancel an event that was set to take place at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. this week.
The president of the American-Turkish Council, Howard Beasey, told ABC News the group paused its plans for the annual event after it became clear to him that no senior U.S. officials would be willing to attend the annual event. Talks ultimately led to Pastor Andrew Brunson’s Oct. 12 release from a Turkish jail, but that came too late for conference organizers to get high-level U.S. officials to attend on short notice, Beasey said.
“We were on non-speaking terms, more or less, government-to-government from July until two Fridays ago,” Beasey said. ...................
