A photo of the family was given to US President Donald Trump (L) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO Summit on December 4, 2019 at the Grove Hotel in Watford, northeast of London.
Peter Nichols | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on Turkey over the acquisition of millions of dollars from the Russian missile system.
The long-awaited move comes as tensions between Washington and Ankara escalate in the weeks leading up to Biden’s accusations in the White House between Washington and Ankara, and a message will be sent to foreign governments aimed at future arms deals with Russia.
In 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a 2.5 billion deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the S-400 missile system.
The Russian-made S-400, along with America’s most expensive weapons platform F-35, poses a threat to NATO’s alliance with the mobile surface-to-air missile system.
Despite warnings from the United States and other NATO allies, Turkey accepted the first of four missile batteries in July 2019. A week later, the United States cut off Turkey, its financial and manufacturing partner, from the F-35 program.
Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system.
Sergei Malgavoko | TASS by Getty Images
Trump faced potential economic sanctions for adopting the Kremlin’s missile system under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, signed by Trump in August 2017. Trump has not yet imposed sanctions on Turkey.
“Turkey is a valued ally for the United States and an important regional security partner, and we seek to continue our decades-long history of productive defense-sector cooperation by removing the S-400 occupation barrier as soon as possible,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in a statement. Was that these sanctions should be announced.
The sanctions banned all U.S. export licenses and authorizations, including those imposed on the Republic of Turkey’s Presidency Defense and Defense Industries, as well as Dr. Ismail Demir, president of the Asset Freeze and Visa Sanctions Organization, and other top officials.
When asked about sanctions, Thomas Caraco, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project, said, “Well, that’s a long time. Strong, well-designed sanctions pay off painfully.”
The agents added, “The details vary a lot. This could be a softball. It can’t just be a token if the restrictions are meaningful.”
The timing of the sanctions, more than a year after the delivery of the missile system, is likely to hamper relations between Ankara and Washington for the Biden administration.
State Department officials denied the time, saying the process of enforcing sanctions was “very serious” and “intentional.”
“It took time to work on this complex set of issues, in particular, the fact that Turkey is a NATO ally, so why don’t I read more about this time and why not today and yesterday, or three months ago, during a conversation with reporters. “This is the time that we need to accomplish on purpose,” said Matthew Palmer, deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
The latest revelation comes less than two months after reports emerged that the Turkish military had begun testing the S-400 system.
In October, both the defense and state departments condemned the apparent missile test on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.
State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagas wrote in an email statement at the time that the United States had submitted to the Turkish government at a very senior level that the acquisition of Russian military systems such as the S-400 was unacceptable.
A rocket launches from the S-400 missile system at the Ashuluk military base in South Russia on September 22, 2020.
Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images
He added, “The United States is clear on our expectation that the S-400 system should not be operational.”
“We have objected to the purchase of the Turkish system and are concerned by reports that Turkey is operating it. It should not be activated. Doing so risks serious consequences for our security relations,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in an emailed statement. Said. .
It was launched in 2007, the successor to the S-400, S-200 and S-300 missile systems. U.S. Compared to systems, the Russian-made S-400 is supposed to be able to join a wider array of targets, longer and simultaneously against multiple threats.
In several attempts to prevent Turkey from buying the S-400, the State Department offered to sell the country the Raytheon Patriot missile system in 2013 and 2017. Ankara passed both times on the Patriot because the U.S. refused to transfer the system’s sensitive missile technology.
“We have repeatedly tried through our diplomatic objectives to find a way to resolve these issues,” said Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of international security and disqualification, during a press conference.
“We have also repeatedly offered them military equipment to meet their operational needs that do not accelerate sanctions and in fact, the Turkish defense forces have a better answer in terms of NATO’s inter-practicality. Unfortunately, Turkey has changed in the last few years. Let it down, “Ford said, adding that the United States has” no choice. “
Despite potential U.S. sanctions, a dozen countries have expressed interest in buying Russia’s S-400 missile system.
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