{"id":4072,"date":"2020-12-23T20:21:51","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T20:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=4072"},"modified":"2020-12-23T20:21:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T20:21:51","slug":"why-trump-just-sanctioned-nato-ally-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=4072","title":{"rendered":"Why Trump just sanctioned NATO ally Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The United States is finally punishing Turkey for purchasing a Russian missile defense system<\/a>, a long-anticipated move<\/a> that is likely to increase tensions with a NATO ally.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of the Russian-made S-400<\/a> surface-to-air missile defense system. The administration ordered the penalties under a section of the Countering America\u2019s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)<\/a>, which gives the president the power to sanction people or entities that do business with Russia\u2019s intelligence or defense sectors<\/a>. The sanctions specifically target Turkey\u2019s defense procurement agency, known as the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), and its senior officials.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Turkey acquired the defense system last year<\/a>, after repeated warnings by the Trump administration not to do so because they do not want a NATO ally relying on Russian systems. US officials also said Turkey\u2019s use of the S-400 jeopardized America\u2019s F-35 fighter jet program, over fears the Russian system\u2019s radars could collect intelligence on the F-35s<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the US removed Turkey from its F-35 fighter jet program,<\/a> which barred the country from getting the jets and restricted any Turkish personnel from working with the planes. Still, bipartisan members of Congress<\/a> continued to push for harsher punishment of Turkey, including sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey\u2019s decision to purchase the Russian system further strained relations between Washington and Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has consolidated power in recent years, becoming more explicitly authoritarian and cracking down on dissent, including by jailing journalists and others he perceives as his political enemies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erdo\u011fan was angered by the US\u2019s decision to ally with the Kurds in the fight against ISIS in Syria, as Erdo\u011fan associates them with the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party, a terrorist group that\u2019s waged attacks in Turkey. He has also bristled at the US\u2019s refusal to extradite a US-based cleric whom Erdo\u011fan blames for a 2016 coup attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Turkey\u2019s flirtation with Russia<\/a>, Turkey has also tried to exert its regional influence in places like Syria<\/a> and Libya<\/a> and the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where its gas exploration efforts have increased tensions with Greece and other NATO allies in the European Union, too<\/a>. (The EU is also considering sanctions against Turkey<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite issuing lots of admonitions, the Trump administration didn\u2019t move forward with the CAATSA sanctions. Some attributed Trump\u2019s refusal to do so to his personal affinity<\/a> for Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in October, Turkey tested the S-400 system<\/a> in defiance of US warnings, making it much harder for the US to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 And this month, Congress, in its annual defense authorization bill, included mandatory sanctions against Turkey <\/a>for its Russian defense shopping spree. Though Trump has threatened to veto the bill for lots of reasons<\/a>, the administration\u2019s move to sanction Turkey on Monday may have been an attempt to get ahead of that requirement.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/12\/14\/22174669\/turkey-sanctions-trump-russia-s-400<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The United States is finally punishing Turkey for purchasing a Russian missile defense system, a long-anticipated move that is likely to increase tensions with a NATO ally.”<\/p>\n

“the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system. The administration ordered the penalties under a section of the Countering America\u2019s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which gives the president the power to sanction people or entities that do business with Russia\u2019s intelligence or defense sectors. The sanctions specifically target Turkey\u2019s defense procurement agency, known as the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), and its senior officials.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Turkey acquired the defense system last year, after repeated warnings by the Trump administration not to do so because they do not want a NATO ally relying on Russian systems. US officials also said Turkey\u2019s use of the S-400 jeopardized America\u2019s F-35 fighter jet program, over fears the Russian system\u2019s radars could collect intelligence on the F-35s.<\/p>\n

In response, the US removed Turkey from its F-35 fighter jet program, which barred the country from getting the jets and restricted any Turkish personnel from working with the planes. Still, bipartisan members of Congress continued to push for harsher punishment of Turkey, including sanctions.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s decision to purchase the Russian system further strained relations between Washington and Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has consolidated power in recent years, becoming more explicitly authoritarian and cracking down on dissent, including by jailing journalists and others he perceives as his political enemies.<\/p>\n

Erdo\u011fan was angered by the US\u2019s decision to ally with the Kurds in the fight against ISIS in Syria, as Erdo\u011fan associates them with the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party, a terrorist group that\u2019s waged attacks in Turkey. He has also bristled at the US\u2019s refusal to extradite a US-based cleric whom Erdo\u011fan blames for a 2016 coup attempt.<\/p>\n

Beyond Turkey\u2019s flirtation with Russia, Turkey has also tried to exert its regional influence in places like Syria and Libya and the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where its gas exploration efforts have increased tensions with Greece and other NATO allies in the European Union, too. (The EU is also considering sanctions against Turkey.)<\/p>\n

But despite issuing lots of admonitions, the Trump administration didn\u2019t move forward with the CAATSA sanctions. Some attributed Trump\u2019s refusal to do so to his personal affinity for Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n

Then in October, Turkey tested the S-400 system in defiance of US warnings, making it much harder for the US to ignore.<\/p>\n

And this month, Congress, in its annual defense authorization bill, included mandatory sanctions against Turkey for its Russian defense shopping spree. Though Trump has threatened to veto the bill for lots of reasons, the administration\u2019s move to sanction Turkey on Monday may have been an attempt to get ahead of that requirement.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[315,1001,418,619],"class_list":["post-4072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-russia","tag-sanctions","tag-turkey","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4073,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4072\/revisions\/4073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}