A bipartisan push for sanctions against Turkey’s incursion into northeast Syria has taken shape over the past week, but the path forward remains unclear.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have strongly criticized the administration’s decision to pull troops out of Syria and leave Kurdish soldiers to be attacked by Turkish forces, and risk the escape of ISIS prisoners currently under Kurdish responsibility there.
Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), originally sharply criticized the White House’s decision to step aside as Turkey moved into the region, and have since rallied behind Trump’s new economic sanctions package, imposed via executive order Monday afternoon.
The sanctions package includes increasing steel tariffs up to 50 percent and halting ongoing negotiations on a potential hundred-billion-dollar trade deal between the two countries. A senior administration official speaking on background Oct. 14 said the sanctions are “designed to focus Turkey’s attention on the gravity of the situation in Northeast Syria.”
Graham praised this executive order and the economic sanctions therein, after he joined with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) last week to propose a bipartisan sanctions package that bans arms sales to Turkey, and targets military leaders in the nation as well as foreign allies and partners who may choose to sell weapons to Ankara (Defense Daily, Oct. 10).
Graham told reporters on Tuesday that he plans to bring that bill to the Senate floor this week. However, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to say on Tuesday whether he would allow the bill to be brought to the floor, telling reporters that the topic will be discussed this week now that the Senate has reconvened.
House Democrats including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) are developing their own companion sanctions bill that would ban arms sales to Turkey, while calling for a vote on a resolution that would condemn Turkey’s movement into Syria.
“The President’s decisions on Syria ought to be broadly and loudly condemned,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in a Monday statement. “The House will have an opportunity to join in bipartisan condemnation when it considers a resolution introduced by Chairman Engel of the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as his bill to impose sanctions on Turkey for its incursion.”
Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, said in an Oct. 13 email to investors that Congress’ proposals for such arms sale bans against Turkey will likely “go nowhere” as the White House has yet to implement sanctions on Ankara following its procurement of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.
As of Tuesday afternoon, nations that had banned armed sales to Turkey as a result of its military operations in northeast Syria included NATO member-nations Italy, France, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Canada, as well as Finland, a non-NATO member-nation that has participated in multiple NATO peacekeeping operations. In addition, the European Union has made call to all member states to suspend arms exports to Turkey.
Vice President Mike Pence is leading a delegation to Turkey this week to attempt to negotiate a ceasefire or other end to Turkey’s military operations in the region.
U.S. military leaders speaking at the annual Association for the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C. asserted that despite the battles on the ground in Syria, the “military-to-military” relations between Washington and Ankara remain strong.
“We continue to have very solid relations,” said Lt. Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of U.S. Army Forces Europe, at a Monday evening panel hosted by Defense One at the conference. NATO Allied Land Command’s Lt. Gen. J.T. Thomson added during the panel that as his headquarters is based in İzmir, Turkey, there has been “no noticeable change” in his interactions with the Turkish forces under his command.
“Having this headquarters in Turkey is very, very important to them,” he said, adding that NATO allies must remember the “large contributions” Turkey has made as a NATO member-nation, including holding the second-largest army. “We’re focused on our mission … [and] stay inside the NATO arena,” Thomson said.