House approves Turkey sanctions bill
Armenian genocide measure passes as well
WASHINGTON – In a remarkable rebuke of a NATO ally, the House on Tuesday approved a biting sanctions bill that could cripple Turkey's economy and would punish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally by requiring an assessment of his net worth amid questions inside Turkey about his finances.
Lawmakers also passed a deeply contentious measure to commemorate the Armenian genocide, a historic move that will almost certainly exacerbate U.S.-Turkey tensions. The genocide measure officially recognizes the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923.
For years, Turkey’s government had successfully lobbied to kill such congressional resolutions, pressuring presidents and lawmakers alike. The Turks have arguing the Armenians who died during that era were victims of civil war and unrest, not genocide. On Tuesday, it passed by an overwhelming vote of 405 to 11, with three lawmakers voting "present."
The genocide and sanctions measures represent “a double whammy” for Turkey, said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington foreign policy institute.
Lawmakers in both parties barreled ahead with the two measures to make Erdogan pay for Turkey's assault on U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in Syria even though the fighting has now mostly stopped.
Members of Congress say Erdogan's attack unleashed violence and chaos that continues to reverberate across the region.
"America is holding accountable top Turkish officials responsible for human rights abuses, including attacking our Kurdish partners," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "We're penalizing Turkish financial institutions who perpetuate
President Erdogan's corruption and abuses."
Pelosi, D-Calif., fast-tracked the sanctions legislation, which goes well beyond President Donald Trump's temporary sanctions on Turkey.
Although it passed the House by a vote of 403 to 16, its fate in the Senate is unclear.
Among other things, the legislation would:
❚ Ban most U.S. arms sales to Turkey and sanction other countries’ military transactions.
❚ Sanctions senior Turkish officials involved in the Syria attack
❚ Blacklist a state-owned bank that is central to Turkey’s economy.
❚ Require the State Department to provide a detailed account of Erdogan’s net worth and income – along with that of his family members.
“The carnage that we have seen over the past week against our Kurdish partners and innocent civilians has been unbearable. There must be consequences,” Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in unveiling the sanctions bill.
McCaul and the committee’s chairman, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., are the chief sponsors.
Erdogan's press office in Ankara did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump imposed limited sanctions on Turkey on Oct. 14, about five days after Erdogan ordered the military assault on Syrian Kurdish forces, known as the SDF. The president lifted those sanctions nine days later after Turkey agreed to a cease-fire.