After Trump’s Sanctions, Biden Can Reset With Turkey
The CAATSA measures will hurt, but Ankara should not pull away from the West.
CAATSA says you’ve been a bad NATO partner.
Photographer: Turkish National Defense Ministry Handout
Turks are debating whether the sanctions imposed on their defense procurement agency by the Trump administration are “light” or “heavy.” The sanctions, under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, are meant to punish Turkey for its purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile-defense system, which its NATO allies say compromise the alliance’s defenses.
They target the procurement agency, known by its Turkish acronym SSB, for “knowingly engaging in a significant transaction” with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms-export entity. The sanctions bar the SSB from U.S. export licenses and authorizations for any goods or technology, from loans or credits by U.S. financial institutions, and from U.S. Export-Import Bank assistance for exports. They also impose an American veto on loans by multilateral financial institutions to SSB.