Trump denounces Turkey’s incursion into Syria, imposes economic sanctions [+Video]

This won’t be enough for those who are clamoring for the US to go to war with Turkey. All those who are claiming that Trump is under Erdogan’s thumb will keep on saying it.

Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Turkey is an unreliable ally, and that the alliance should be ended, and Turkey should be expelled from NATO. But right now, Turkey is officially an ally of the United States. It is supremely ironic that those who are calling for US troops to face the Turks in Syria, saying that otherwise we will be betraying an ally, the Kurds, don’t seem to care about the optics of betraying another ally, the Turks. Even granting everything that is being said about the nobility and reliability of the Kurds versus the perfidy of the Turks, betraying one alliance to favor another is not going to make the United States appear more trustworthy to the rest of its allies.

Statement from President Donald J. Trump regarding Turkey’s Actions in Northwest Syria.

Text of a Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate

Issued on: October 14, 2019

Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the “order”) declaring a national emergency due to the situation in and in relation to Syria, and in particular the recent actions by the Government of Turkey to conduct a military offensive into northeast Syria. I have taken this action because recent actions by the Government of Turkey undermine the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, endangers civilians, and further threatens to undermine the peace, security, and stability in the region, and thereby constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. I have also announced that steel tariffs will be increased back up to 50 percent, the level prior to reduction in May.

To deal with this threat, the order, consistent with law, blocks all property and interests in property, within the jurisdiction of the United States, of certain persons determined to be responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that contribute to this threat.

The order also authorizes the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and other officials of the United States government as appropriate, to impose sanctions upon persons determined to be responsible for or complicit in, have directly or indirectly engaged in, or attempted to engage in, or financed, various actions that contribute to this unusual and extraordinary threat. These actions include the obstruction, disruption, or prevention of a ceasefire in northern Syria and of efforts to promote a political solution to the conflict in Syria. Sanctions may affect various financial transactions, including government procurement contracts, foreign exchange transactions, investments, and importation of goods, technology, or services, as well as impose the denial of a visa and exclusion from the United States of the sanctioned person.

To deal with this threat, and because the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens subject to sanctions would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, the order also suspends the entry of such persons into the United States.

The order authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to me by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order.

I am enclosing a copy of the order, as well as the press statement I issued earlier today.

Sincerely,

DONALD J. TRUMP

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