U.S. House Resolution Condemns Turkey
President Erdoğan of Turkey and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan are close allies given their countries’ shared Turkic roots. (Wikimedia Commons)
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs is currently considering H. Res. 1195, known as “Condemning Turkey’s attacks on United States forces and allies and Turkey’s continued support for terrorist organizations.”
Specific accusations include firing artillery shells at American observers of Kurdish troops in Syria; hiring more than 3,500 Syrian mercenaries with links to Al-Qaeda and ISIS; and, most recently, providing direct military support for Azerbaijan in its ongoing conflict with Armenia, inflaming tensions within the region.
The House resolution states that, owing to these transgressions and the possibility of Russian retaliation for these actions, the president must “work with NATO to create the necessary process to remove Turkey from NATO.”
While legally non-binding, the resolution is a symbolic indicator of the deteriorating relations between the United States and Republic of Turkey, the latter of which has been a member of NATO since 1952.
Turkey remains vital for U.S. interests in the Middle East. The State Department website details that Turkish air bases, especially Incirlik, have been “critical in the effort to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS in Syria and Iraq.” In addition, Turkish and U.S. troops currently serve alongside each other in Afghanistan and Somalia. Turkey also hosts an stockpile of 50 U.S. nuclear bombs.
So, why the condemnations?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seeks to project his country’s influence across the region. Currently, Turkey is locked in a naval standoff with Greece after returning seismic exploration vessels to search for oil in waters both countries claim is in their exclusive economic zone. The U.S. State Department announced it “deplores” Turkey’s actions in the Aegean Sea, warning that “coercion, threats, intimidation, and military activity will not resolve tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean” and accusing the country of “calculated provocation.”
On October 9, 2019, the Turkish military crossed the Syrian border into areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a primarily Kurdish-led alliance with the endorsement of the United States. Around 1,000 American troops withdrew from the region amid allegations of ethnic cleansing of Kurds by Turkey. Like Syria, Turkey also has a sizable Kurdish minority, and government forces sporadically clash with militias. Erdoğan, angered by U.S. support of the SDF, declared, “A country we call an ally is insisting on forming a terror army on our border,” and that his “mission is to strangle it before it is even born.” When faced with condemnation from Europe, Erdoğan threatened to release the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in his country—the single largest concentration in the world—into Europe.
Azerbaijan, a fellow Turkic country, is a natural ally of Turkey. It also serves as a contrast to Armenia, which has a history of reciprocated hostility with both countries and currently hosts a Russian military base. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay recently expressed his willingness to take military action: “If Armenia takes unexpected steps and there is a request from Baku to send troops, Turkey will not hesitate.”
Turkey has been accused of sending fighter jets, drones, and mercenaries to aid Azerbaijan, but the government denies all of these claims.
The United States has reason to be wary of making an enemy of a strategic partner situated at the crossroads of the Middle East, Mediterranean Sea, and Eastern Europe. For this reason, the likelihood of any substantive retaliation in the near future remains minimal.