Washington ratchets up sanctions threats against Turkey
President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on the same day the Senate advanced a bill restricting Turkey’s access to financial assistance.
President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey today for its ongoing detention of a US citizen, bringing his administration in line with a monthslong congressional effort to punish the NATO ally.
Trump took to Twitter to threaten “large sanctions on Turkey for their longtime detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson,” adding, “This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!”
The president’s threat came a mere hour after a key Senate panel advanced legislation intended to cut Turkey off from international financial institutions.
“We never wanted this bill to be necessary, but we warned the Turkish government that there would be consequences if it did not cease its unjust detention and harassment of US citizens and locally employed embassy staff,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said before the panel voted unanimously to pass the Turkey International Financial Institutions Act. “We will continue to pressure the Turkish government until we see an end to the harassment and arbitrary detention of all US citizens.”
