U.S. sanctions against Turkey warranted, says McCaul

U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX) voiced support this week for U.S. Treasury Department sanctions levied on Monday against Turkey for the country’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

“I’m pleased the White House has finally levied these sanctions against Turkey, making it clear to President Erdogan that his country must fully recommit Turkey to the NATO alliance and remove this Russian asset from its arsenal,” Rep. McCaul said on Dec. 14.  

Sanctions against Turkey come under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and target Turkey’s defense procurement agency, known as the Presidency of Defense Industries, its president, and its senior officials.  

When U.S. lawmakers first became aware that Turkey was attempting to purchase the S-400 system from Russia, Rep. McCaul urged Turkey’s president to work with the U.S. government to come to a NATO-compatible solution, according to the congressman’s office.

Nevertheless, Turkey purchased the S-400 system in July 2019, violating CAATSA, which requires sanctions on any country that has made a “significant purchase” of defense or intelligence equipment from Moscow.

Since then, Rep. McCaul has continued to call on the Trump administration to impose sanctions against Turkey under CAATSA.

“We have given Turkey every opportunity to correct their dangerous decision of purchasing an air defense system from Russia that would act as a surveillance system against all NATO aircraft for the Putin regime, posing a significant security threat to NATO member countries including the United States,” he said on Monday.