US
sanctioning Turkish officials over detention of American pastor -
White House
RT
,
1
August, 2018
The
officials targeted under the so-called Global Magnitsky Act are
Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül and Turkish Interior
Minister Süleyman Soylu, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders told reporters.
The
US Treasury is imposing sanctions against two cabinet-level Turkish
officials over the continued detention of a US pastor by the Turkish
authorities, the White House spokesperson said.
Pastor
Andrew Brunson, a US citizen and a Turkish resident for over two
decades, has been arrested as part of Ankara’s probe into the 2016
failed military coup. He is facing up to 35 years in prison if found
guilty of supporting the coup.
Details from @USTreasury on the sanctions against two top #Turkey officials.
The
two officials targeted by sanctions “played leading roles in the
organizations responsible for the arrest and detention” of Brunson,
the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a
statement.
Treasury
accused the two of “implementing Turkey's serious human rights
abuses.” All their property within US jurisdiction has been
blocked, and US citizens are also “generally prohibited from
engaging in transactions” with the two Turkish officials.
The
Trump administration has been pressuring Turkey for some time to
release Brunson. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused his
American counterpart of waging “psychological warfare” against
Turkey over the pastor and warned that the US may lose “a strong
and sincere ally” in Turkey.
The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being. He is suffering greatly. This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!
As
Trump threatened Turkey with sanctions on Twitter last week, Erdogan
shrugged off the threat, saying the US is in no position to force
Ankara back down.
"No
one dictates Turkey. We will never tolerate threats from anybody.
Rule of law is for everyone; no exception," Turkish Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted.
On
Wednesday, Cavusoglu responded to the sanctions by tweeting that they
“won’t be left without retaliation.”
ABD’nin iki Bakanımıza yaptırım uygulamaya kalkışması karşılıksız kalmayacaktır. ABD Yönetimi hukuk dışı taleplerini bu yöntemle elde edemeyeceğini idrak etmediği sürece sorunlarımızı çözemeyiz.
Earlier
on Tuesday, Turkish government spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara
would retaliate against any US sanctions and hoped the conflict could
be resolved during a meeting between US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo and Cavusoglu later this week.
Sale
of S-400 to Turkey ‘catastrophic for US’ – Pompeo’s assistant
RT
,
1
August, 2018
If
Ankara buys the Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft system, it would be
catastrophic for the US and could imply a break-up with Turkey, a
newly-picked assistant secretary of state told US lawmakers during
confirmation hearings.
The
pessimistic outlook on Washington’s quarrel with Ankara over the
Russian weapon system came from René Clarke Cooper, nominated to be
the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.
Cooper spoke to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday to
convince them he is the right man to assist Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo.
At
one point, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) asked about the
Russian-Turkish deal and US move to bar supply of F-35 fighter jets
in retaliation.
“A
sale of something like the S-400 would be catastrophic for us,”
Cooper told Shaheen. “We do not want a NATO ally to be dependent
upon the servicing and supply of equipment that is provided by
Russia. That is for me an operational standpoint. The strategic
standpoint is we don’t want a NATO ally to have a weapon system
supplied by Russia.”
He
conceded that if the long-standing cooperation between Turkey and the
US were to be broken apart, it would be catastrophic too.
Cooper
spoke hours before the White House announced sanctions against two
Turkish ministers as part of the stand-off over Pastor Andrew
Brunson, a US citizen held in custody by Ankara over his alleged
support of the 2016 botched military coup. Turkish interior and
justice minister were slapped with sanctions as Washington deemed
them responsible for the detention of Brunson and violations of human
rights. Ankara has previously vowed to respond with
counter-sanctions.
The
US House of Representatives has approved the 2019 National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA), allocating $716 billion to the US military.
Here are some of the massive bill’s more interesting...
US
officials have repeatedly stated that Turkey’s purchase of the
Russian long-range air defense system was against NATO’s interests
and compromised the alliance. The 2019 National Defense Authorization
Act passed in the Senate on Wednesday bars the supply of the advanced
F-35 jets until the Pentagon and the State Department produce a
report on US “military and diplomatic presence” in the country
and the possible consequences of removing Turkey from the F-35
program altogether.
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