As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the White House today over howls of protest from Congress, aides and experts are worried that President Donald Trump will opt not to punish the NATO ally for diverging from to American interests to launch an incursion into northern Syria and taking delivery of a Russian air defense system.
A congressional committee aide who spoke with Al-Monitor said Congress increasingly expects that Trump will not levy automatic US sanctions on Turkey designed to punish major buyers of Russian weapons systems; Turkey bought the $2.5 billion S-400 air defense system, despite pushback from the State Department and Defense Department.
The staffer said the Pentagon is extremely worried that Turkey is on a path to steadily disengage from the United States as it publicly pursues other Russian weapons systems, and American credibility could wane if the Trump administration does not follow through on sanctions threats.
Last month, Turkish officials said Ankara was in an “advanced stage” of talks to acquire up to 50 Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, a move that could further disentangle Turkey from NATO’s industrial base. Turkey is also hoping to purchase a second tranche of S-400 batteries, which boast powerful radar capabilities that prompted the United States to kick Turkey out of the F-35 program.
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