how the United States and Europe put pressure on Turkey

The United States and the European Union have decided on sanctions against Turkey following its military intervention in northern Syria against Kurdish armed groups. Here are the measures announced.

Donald Trump, who asked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an immediate halt to the offensive in Syria, signed a decree on Monday authorizing sanctions against current and former members of the Turkish government. This decree will allow seizures of property and prohibitions of entry into the United States.

In particular, the Turkish Defense, Energy and Interior Ministers, as well as all of their services, have been targeted, the US Treasury Secretary said. Donald Trump also announced the 50% increase in US tariffs on Turkish steel – six months after their downgrade – and the immediate end of negotiations with Turkey around what he called a trade agreement at 100 billion dollars.

These US sanctions may be strengthened according to the evolution of the attitude of Turkey. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday that he will meet with US allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization next week to urge them to take action. "Diplomatic and economic measures" against Turkey, itself a member of NATO.

Difficult embargo

The European Union countries agreed Monday on a regime of economic sanctions against Turkey for its drilling gas in the territorial waters of Cyprus. On the other hand, they refrained from imposing an EU-wide embargo on arms exports to Turkey, limiting themselves to restricting these arms deliveries.

Several countries have nevertheless chosen at their level to suspend their arms exports to Turkey. This was the case for France and Germany over the weekend. Italy, Turkey's largest exporter of defense equipment, will also freeze its arms deliveries, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday. European level required several months of preparation.

Britain has begun a reflection on the subject and will no longer grant permits to export arms to Turkey pending its completion, said Tuesday the head of diplomacy, Dominic Raab.

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Gas, steel, weapons: how the United States and Europe put pressure on TurkeyOuest-France.fr

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