Senators Van Hollen and Graham threaten sanctions on Turkey to achieve ceasefire with Syrian Kurdish allies

Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are threatening sanctions against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unless Ankara forces Syrian opposition fighters into a ceasefire with U.S-backed Kurdish partners in the northeast of the country, as the country roils from the fall of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The senators said they are prepared to introduce sanctions legislation this week against Turkey if Ankara does not immediately accept terms for a sustained ceasefire and demilitarized zone.

“While Turkey has some legitimate security concerns that can be addressed, these developments are undermining regional security, and the United States cannot sit idly by,” the senators wrote.

“In the wake of the Assad regime’s fall, Turkish-backed forces have ramped up attacks against our Syrian Kurdish partners, once again threatening the vital mission of preventing the resurgence of ISIS.”

The U.S. maintains about 900 troops in northeast Syria supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in combating a resurgence of the terrorist group ISIS. Turkey has long accused elements within Syrian Kurdish forces of being terrorists, specifically the Kurdish group PKK.

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, one of the opposition groups that took part in the takeover of the country from Assad earlier this month, reportedly ended on Monday a U.S.-mediated ceasefire that allowed for Syrian Kurdish forces to retreat from the northeastern city of Manbij.

Van Hollen and Graham said that Turkey “has refused to extend the ceasefire, including an offer for a demilitarized zone along the border, particularly the city of Kobani.”

The sanctions Van Hollen and Graham propose mirror legislation introduced in 2019 that, at the time, helped move Turkey and Turkish-backed forces into a ceasefire with the Kurds.

This includes sanctions against senior Turkish officials, including Erdoğan; key Turkish banks; military transactions; and energy sector activities in support of the Turkish Armed Forces. It would also require the U.S. Treasury to move forward with delayed sanctions under federal law over Turkey’s decision to obtain the S-400 Russian missile defense system. And it would prohibit U.S. military assistance to Turkey, bar Erdoğan and Turkish leadership from visiting the United States, and require reports on the net worth and assets of Erdoğan amid concerns of corruption.

President-elect Trump has said that the U.S. “should have nothing to do” with Syria, and during his first term he sought to withdraw the U.S. troops backing the SDF. During a press conference on Monday, he did not directly address whether he would seek to withdraw U.S. troops again, but he said that Erdoğan is “someone I got along with great” and seemed to suggest Ankara would have control of the country.

“Well, nobody knows what the final outcome’s going to be in the region. … I believe it’s Turkey. … But Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost.”