Washington punishes Turkey… too late, too late

The United States has moved to a de facto approach to Turkey. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared sanctions against the Ankara government agency dealing with the procurement of weapons (SBB) in relation to the acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system. “Despite our warnings, Turkey has moved forward with the purchase from Russia and the testing of the S-400 system.”

On Twitter, the head of US diplomacy said, adding that sanctions against Turkey’s defence industry demonstrate that the United States can fully enforce US federal legislation. “We will not tolerate any significant transactions with the Russian defence sector,”We will not tolerate any significant transactions with the Russian defence sector.

“We call on the US to review the unjust sanctions decision and reaffirm that we are ready to deal with the issue with dialogue and diplomacy, by the spirit of alliance.”We call on the US to review the unjust penalty decision and reaffirm that by the spirit of alliance, we are prepared to deal with the issue of dialogue and diplomacy.

Even Moscow, through Sergey Lavrov, the head of diplomacy, interfered against the steps deemed to be unconstitutional by pointing a finger at the demonstration of US arrogance towards international law. “And of course, it does not improve the international position of the United States,” stressed Moscow. Iran also criticised the US sanctions against Turkey.

Several Western countries have indexed the purchasing of the Russian defence missile system by Ankara, demonstrating its incompatibility with NATO systems. Last year, Washington suspended Turkey’s involvement in the development programme of the state-of-the-art F-35 fighter in response to the delivery of the S-400 first battery. According to Washington, the S-400s could unlock technical secrets.

So far, even in the face of significant foreign abuses by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Donald Trump has resisted enforcing sanctions on Ankara, not even though he has exported jihadists to every corner of the Middle East. Zero sanctions because he was outraged by Libya’s weapons embargo. Zero fines for breaching international agreements by fracking in areas owned by other nations. Not even when he threatened allied nations’ ships.

When Erdogan helped Azerbaijan kill churches in Armenia, or when Kurdish minorities were murdered, the U.S. remained silent. Thousands of writers, activists, and political rivals, detained, tortured, and starving to death by magistrates loyal to the new sultan, have not received a signal from the White House. Go-go fines if Turkey does not buy arms with stars and stripes. A change that badly hurts the lack of legitimacy left in the U.S.