Members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) introduced a bill Oct. 16 that would prohibit the sale of U.S. military equipment to Turkey in the latest effort to sanction the NATO member-nation for launching a military operation in northeast Syria and targeting Kurdish troops that had until recently fought alongside U.S. forces in the region.
The bill is sponsored by HASC member and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and is supported by over 90 Republican House colleagues, per a Wednesday press release. The sanctions and repercussions it imposes on Turkey closely reflect a bipartisan Senate bill introduced last week by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in banning arms sales, sanctions senior leaders of the Turkish government, targets allies or partners who would perform any sort of transaction with the Turkish Armed Forces and extends the sanctions imposed by the U.S. government related to Ankara’s procurement of the Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft weapon system.
Graham and Van Hollen have announced plans to introduce their bill on Thursday. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, committed his support to the bill in a statement Wednesday.
Cheney said in a Wednesday statement that the group has worked “very closely with the Senate, working very closely across the aisle as well,” on the sanctions package.
“It’s very important to recognize the impact, in particular, that the Turks now are in a situation where we risk the resurgence of ISIS, where the Turks have gone in and we see evidence of atrocities being committed, and where our allies – the Kurds – frankly are facing what looks like a betrayal from the United States that could have very negative consequences and impacts for us globally,” Cheney said.
Turkey currently uses a variety of U.S.-made military equipment, including over 300 combat aircraft, 2,400 main battle tanks, over 3,000 M113 armored personnel carriers and 31 C-130 transport aircraft, according to data compiled by the Center for International Policy, a non-profit foreign policy think tank based in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), an Army National Guard Special Forces officer, offered his support for the bill in a statement Wednesday.
“I am proud to join my colleagues on this important legislation,” Waltz said. “We cannot take the risk of an ISIS 2.0, so we must do what we can in Congress to mitigate Turkey’s aggression in Syria.”