Duckworth, Kinzinger tear at Turkey
Republican congressman questions NATO ally; Democratic senator calls on Trump ‘to fix this crisis that he created’
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger questions President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. military forces from Syria. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
Members of the Illinois congressional delegation on both sides of the political aisle are questioning the U.S. alliance with Turkey and President Trump’s military actions in Syria.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon joined last week in sponsoring bipartisan legislation calling for what the congressman’s office called “a formal review of the relationship between the United States and Turkey.” He joined U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, in submitting a U.S. House resolution formally questioning Turkey’s role in the NATO alliance.
“What’s happening in northern Syria right now is devastating,” Kinzinger said in a statement. “We’ve abandoned our Kurdish allies who have sacrificed their lives to fight ISIS, and now (Turkey) President Erdogan has unleashed an assault on the Kurdish people — it is reprehensible and inhumane.
“If Erdogan doesn’t want to act like a leader of a NATO nation, we should not treat him like one,” he added. Pointing out that “far too many lives have been taken by” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian leader Ali Khamenei in the Syrian conflict, he said, “The United States should not stand idly by as Erdogan joins this list of murderous thugs. Thank you to my colleagues for joining me as we work to hold the Turkish government accountable for their decision to invade Syria.”
Kinzinger, a pilot who served in the U.S. Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s move to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria and abandon Kurdish fighters to face a Turkish invasion. Last week, he pointed out that “we bombed our own base on purpose, because of the impulsive decision by (President Trump) didn’t leave time to evacuate the right way. Is this the America you grew up believing in?”
The Kurds allied with U.S. forces in Syria to defeat fighters for the Islamic State, but Turkey fears that Kurds might attempt to form their own nation comprising their areas in Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. When Trump abruptly pulled U.S. forces out of the area, that gave a free hand to the Turkish military to turn on the Kurds, with the reported result that many ISIS prisoners of war were being released as a consequence, and Kurdish refugees were being driven from their homes.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth joined a bipartisan call for strong sanctions to be imposed on Turkey to discourage its incursion against the Kurds in Syria. She joined none other than staunch Trump supporter U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, in sponsoring the Countering Turkish Aggression Act, which according to the Illinois senator’s office would “immediately impose serious sanctions against Turkey, senior Turkish officials, including President Erdogan, key Turkish banks, military transactions, and their energy sector activities.”
“In the days since President Trump’s reckless decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, Russia has reentered the region, Bashar al-Assad has consolidated his brutal rule over swaths of northern Syria, many of our Kurdish allies have been slaughtered, and countless ISIS fighters and supporters appear to have escaped from prisons,” Duckworth said in a statement. “I’ll continue calling on President Trump to fix this crisis that he created, and I’m proud to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in introducing this bill that would impose strong sanctions against Turkey.”
Graham has been among Trump’s fiercest defenders on impeachment, but he railed against the president’s military maneuvers in Syria in co-sponsoring the legislation. “At a time when the United States needs to speak with a clear voice regarding Turkey’s invasion into northeastern Syria, this bipartisan sanctions bill is that clear voice,” he said. “Our legislation builds upon the administration’s efforts to sanction Turkey and goes further in important areas like prohibiting military assistance and transactions to the Turkish Armed Forces as well as mandates sanctions” in response to Turkey’s purchase of a Russian missile-defense system. Graham added, “Erdogan’s invasion of northeastern Syria has created the conditions for the reemergence of ISIS and the destruction of our allies. These outcomes must not only be addressed by the administration but by Congress as well.”