BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:20 P.M.) – The President-elect Joe Biden’s candidate for Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, accused Turkey of not acting as an ally, pointing to the possibility of further sanctions being imposed on Ankara because of its purchase of the S-400″system.
Last month, Washington imposed sanctions on the Turkish military industries due to Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems, in a move Turkey described as a “fatal mistake.”
Furthermore, Blinken said at a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee meeting that discussed his candidacy:
“The idea that our strategic partner, or so-called strategic partner, is in fact working with one of our major strategic competitors in Russia, is unacceptable.”
A day before the inauguration of Joe Biden as President to succeed Donald Trump, who has close ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Blinken said: “I think we need to look at the impact of the current sanctions and then determine if there is more to be done.”
Blinken continued in the same context, saying that “Turkey is an ally that does not act as it should, and this is a very big challenge for us and we are very clear about it.”
It is noteworthy to add that the sanctions imposed by Washington on Turkey had won bipartisan support in Congress, and were declared under the Anti-United States Enemies Through Sanctions Act.
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