AHEPA welcomes bipartisan calls from Congress’s leaders on foreign policymaking for the Administration to take action on Turkey due to Turkey’s reported test of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system, announced Supreme President George G. Horiates.
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), ranking member, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, issued a strong statement that “Turkey must be sanctioned immediately for its purchase and use of this system” by the Administration.
- Senator Menendez’s statement falls in line with his series of questioning of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400s during a July hearing. | Also: AHEPA’s July letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, U.S. Senator James Risch (R-ID) also issued a statement calling Turkey’s reported test of the missile system, “unacceptable behavior from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ally” and for President Erdogan to be held accountable for his actions during the past several years.
On the House side, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Ranking Member Michael McCaul (R-TX) issued a joint statement that also made it clear that Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400s is sanctionable under U.S. law and “the Administration must impose these sanctions.”
In addition, Chairman Engel (pictured at right with Supreme President Horiates), and U.S. Rep. William Keating (D-MA), who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment, called upon the Administration to increase pressure to push back against Turkey’s continued regional aggression and undemocratic behavior in a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo. They also urged for the Administration to impose sanctions on Turkey for its acquisition of the S-400s.
“We sincerely thank the heads of Congress’s foreign policymaking committees for keeping the bipartisan pressure on to hold Turkey accountable for its aggression and egregious provocations that violate international law and U.S. law, in case of its acquisition of the S-400 missile defense system,” Horiates said. “Turkey continues to prove on a daily basis that it is a failed NATO partner and it does not act in anyone’s best interest. We reiterate our call for the Administration and other international bodies to sanction Turkey.”