Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a difficult choice – to face new sanctions from the United States and the European Union, or to give back the only Middle Eastern NATO country and candidate for EU membership to the fold of the West. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes about this in its editorial.
Turkey has long been a fickle NATO ally, but President Erdogan has now gone too far by purchasing Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) and preparing them for deployment on alert.
“The announcement by the US State Department last Monday that Ankara was facing sanctions was unfortunate, but inevitable”, – the WSJ says.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 would jeopardize the security of US military technology and personnel within NATO, as well as provide “significant funds for the Russian defense sector” and “Russia’s access to the Turkish military and defense industry”.
“The sanctions will affect the Turkish Defense Procurement Agency and its top officials. It will be painful, because international financial institutions will have to think twice before doing business with this government structure”, – the newspaper notes.
Pompeo added that the White House wants to address the issue, but must impose sanctions in accordance with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed in 2017.
“Although Washington has already removed Turkey from the F-35 program, which will be severely undermined by the purchase by Ankara of the S-400, these sanctions should have been imposed more than a year ago. Earlier, the Donald Trump administration said it would not impose sanctions if Turkey does not activate the system, but then why would Ankara buy it? Turkey tested the S-400 in October”, – reminds WSJ.
Further, one of the leading American publications indicates that “in recent years, Erdogan was friends with Russian leader Vladimir Putin”.
“While the interests of Russia and Turkey diverge in places like Syria and the Black Sea, Mr Putin was delighted to have a deal. The economic benefits (for Russia from this arms deal – ed.) are nothing compared to the disorder and division within NATO”, – states The Wall Street Journal.
US sanctions against Turkey over the purchase of the S-400 air defense system are incompatible with their allied relations, the Turkish president said on December 16. According to him, the step of the American side became “an attack on the sovereignty of Turkey”.
“The European Union threatened to impose sanctions on us, then the United States… Until now, CAATSA has not been applied to anyone other than us, the NATO countries. What is this alliance? What kind of alliance? For what reason? Turkey bought the S-400 from Russia. Didn’t Turkey ask you for an air defense system? This decision is an attack on our sovereignty, a means of putting pressure on us”, – Erdogan said, speaking in Ankara.
As reported by EADaily, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on December 14 that the United States is imposing sanctions on the leadership of the Turkish Defense Industry Authority (SSB), including its director Ismail Demir. The sanctions prohibit SSB from receiving loans from American or international financial institutions, restrict export licenses for Turkish military products created using US-made components, and initiate a visa and financial asset freeze for SSB’s leadership.
West is pushing Erdogan to a “difficult choice”: New sanctions or S-400
