The United States officially announced sanctions against Turkey on the 14th to punish Turkey for purchasing S-400 air defense systems from Russia. In response, Turkey said that the United States had made “great mistakes” and Turkey would take the necessary countermeasures.
According to the statement of the U.S. State Department, the sanctions are targeted at the Turkish Defense Industry Agency, Ismail Demir, the director of the Defense Industry Bureau, and three other employees.
Specific sanctions include: explicitly prohibiting all export transactions of the United States to the Turkish Defense Industry Administration; freezing Demir’s assets in the United States and three other people, and prohibiting the issuance of U.S. visas to these four people.
Turkey: Countermeasures will be taken if not corrected as soon as possible
In response to the U.S. sanctions decision, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement overnight condemning that the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Turkey are “totally unreasonable” and urging the United States to reconsider this unfair decision and correct this serious mistake as soon as possible, otherwise Turkey will take the necessary countermeasures.
Turkish President Erdoğan also expressed disappointment at the behavior of the United States. Erdoğan said that as an ally of NATO, the United States should give support to Turkey rather than sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also objected to the sanctions imposed by the United States for Turkey’s purchase of Russian weapons on the same day.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov:
The U.S. sanctions against Turkey once again show the arrogance of the United States, an illegal manifestation of disregard for international laws and regulations, and the epitome of the continuous unilateral coercive acts of the United States around the world over the past decades.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif also condemned the United States sanctions on social media on the 15th for violating international law again and expressed his support for the Turkish people and government.
Turkey and the United States are both members of NATO. Russia delivered the S-400 anti-aircraft system to Turkey last year. Turkey stressed that this Russian-made weaponry “will not be integrated with the NATO system and will not threaten the security of allies, and hopes to set up a joint working group with the United States to resolve the dispute”.
However, the United States determined that the S-400 “will pose a threat to NATO military aircraft, especially F-35 stealth fighters”, and removed Turkey from the joint F-35 research and development project last year.
The United States sanctions its allies. “What medicine is sold in the gourd”?
Is it really just that this is the reason why Turkey, which impose sanctions on NATO ally Turkey’s ally, is that Turkey’s purchase of Russian weapons poses a threat to NATO equipment? How will Turkey deal with it?
Russian media: NATO is now a “hoax” of arms sales in the United States
Sanctions against Turkey, the reason given by the United States is that Turkey’s purchase of Russian weapons poses a threat to NATO equipment.
But Russia today reports that there is another reason why the United States is so fighting, that is, Turkey does not buy weapons from the United States, which deprives the United States of arms sales opportunities.
Professor Gerald of the University of Houston:
The United States does not allow Turkey to buy the Russian S-400, because NATO is a weapon “scam” for the United States, just a way to let allies spend a lot of money to buy various weapons from American manufacturers.
Turkey does not want to participate in this scam anymore, so the conflict arises.
Sanctions make it difficult for the new U.S. government to improve U.S.-Turkish relations.
The U.S. government is currently in a transitional period. The Associated Press analyzed that Biden will seek to re-consolidate the alliance between the United States after taking office and does not want Russia and Turkey to continue to approach.
However, the current U.S. government’s announcement of sanctions against Turkey at this time is likely to push Turkey further into Russia and make it more difficult for the new government to improve its relations with Turkey.
Turkey may threaten to close the U.S. bases in Turkey again.
At present, Turkey has not made a clear statement on how it will respond if the United States does not lift the sanctions, but Turkey has repeatedly threatened to close the U.S. military bases in Turkey if the United States impose sanctions on Turkey.
According to the data of the U.S. Department of Defense, there are currently 15 military bases in Turkey for the use of the United States and NATO. These bases are of strategic importance for the United States to “encircle Russia and contain Iran” – especially the Ingillik Air Force Base in southern Turkey, which has been the main force of U.S. operations in the Middle East. Want a base.
If necessary, we will close Ingillik Air Force Base.
At present, the United States has deployed a variety of fighters and bombers at Ingillik Air Force Base. In recent years, American fighters have often taken off from here to carry out military strike operations in Syria and Iraq.
If the base is closed, the impact on the United States can be imagined. What worries the United States more is that the U.S. military still stores dozens of nuclear bombs here. Just last October, after Turkey launched a military operation in northern Syria, the United States even considered withdrawing these nuclear bombs in case they were taken hostages to Turkey.
