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Washington The relationship between Turkey and the United States is heading for a new tension at a time when Washington intends to impose sanctions on Ankara for the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system last year.
The European Union, in turn, imposed sanctions on Turkey, during a summit of its leaders in Brussels on Thursday, in the context of its “illegal and aggressive” actions in the Mediterranean against Athens and Nicosia.
US sources said the punitive measure can be announced at any time on Friday and will target Turkey’s Defense Industries Administration and its director, Ismail Demir.
Sources close to the White House indicated that President Donald Trump had given his aides the green light to go ahead with the sanctions.
The Turkish lira fell 1.4 percent on news that US sanctions may damage the Turkish economy, which creaks under the weight of the coronavirus slowdown, double-digit inflation and depletion of reserves. currency of the country.
A senior Turkish official said the sanctions would damage relations between the two countries, which are members of NATO, believing that his country supports solving problems through diplomacy and negotiations, and will not accept unilateral sanctions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hopes to show that the US threats are hollow and is betting that the relationship he has developed with Trump will protect Ankara from any harsh punitive measures.
Trump has long opposed imposing sanctions on Turkey, contrary to the advice of his advisers, and informed sources were reported that his administration officials recommended sanctions against Ankara in July 2019, when the Turkish government began receiving a shipment. of S-400 missiles.
Russia delivered the S-400 surface-to-air missiles to Turkey last year and Ankara tested them in October, saying they would not be integrated into NATO systems and would pose no threat, and called for the formation of a joint working group on this matter.
On the other hand, the United States emphasizes that the Russian missile defense system poses a threat and announced its intention to exclude Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program due to Ankara’s decision.
The US State Department may still change plans and expand or reduce the scope of the sanctions against Turkey, but sources confirmed that the announcement of the sanctions in their current form is imminent.
In Brussels, European leaders authorized the EU Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, to “present a report to them no later than March 2021 and propose, if necessary, an extension of the sanctions to include the names of new personalities. or companies “.
“The measures that have been approved will be individual sanctions, and additional measures can be taken if Turkey continues with its actions,” said a diplomat. “The idea is to gradually tighten the screws,” he added.
A list of names will be drawn up in the coming weeks and presented to member states for approval, in accordance with recommendations adopted by the 27-nation summit in Brussels.
These steps did not go as far as Greece wanted, as its envoys said that Athens was disappointed by the European Union’s reluctance to target the Turkish economy due to the oil and gas dispute as Germany, Italy and Spain lobbied to give more time to diplomacy.
Greece accuses Turkey of illegally drilling for natural gas reserves off the Greek islands. In contrast, the Turkish government believes that the waters in which natural gas drilling is being carried out on an experimental basis belong to the Turkish continental shelf.
Ankara rejected what it saw as the “biased and illegal” approach of the European Union during its summit this week and called on the bloc to act as a fair mediator in the current conflict in the eastern Mediterranean region.
The relations of several countries of the European Union, especially France, with Turkey are experiencing strong tension, especially around the Libyan crisis and the issue of immigration, as well as security and gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, where Ankara is accused of pursuing an expansionary policy and ignoring the repeated international warnings that the Turkish regime faces with contempt and utter contempt.
“The European Council has adopted sanctions against unilateral acts and provocations by Turkey,” French Minister of State for European Affairs Clément Bion wrote on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that European sanctions on Ankara were not a “great concern” for his country.
He added that “the European Union always applies sanctions to Turkey in any case”, accusing the Union of “not being honest with us and did not keep its promises.”