State Department on Turkey sanctions, Russia's role in the South Caucasus

Washington on Wednesday ruled out any connection between its decision this week to sanction Turkey over the 2017 purchase of Russian Missile Defenses, and Ankara's recent role in the region, including in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"When you’re talking about the timing on Turkey and the sanctions, the imposition and the application of the CAATSA (The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) sanctions are directly tied to Turkey procuring and turning on the S-400 system, full stop,"  Assistant Secretary of State R. Clarke Cooper told TURAN's Washington correspondent during a telebriefing organized by the State Department's Foreign Press Center.

Because Turkey is a bilateral ally, and is a NATO member state, Cooper said, the U.S. "took very careful measures and a deliberate approach" on addressing the Russian Missile Defenses issue.

"We actually tried to find a pathway to avoid sanctions... [and] to keep Turkey in the F-35 program. But at each point or each juncture where we could have sought a reconciliation or an alternative measure, that was not met." the Assistant Secretary explained. "And so the first step we took was removing Turkey from the Joint Strike Fighter program, which, again, was not an easy decision and not an easy process for the United States or other partners in the consortium".

As for the imposition of this week's sanctions from a timing standpoint, Cooper said, they "could have been issued at any time."

"We’re really looking at the issue at hand is the S-400 and why that’s problematic, and the need for us to find a pathway forward."

The economic and travel penalties against Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries and four of its top officials were as much a warning to other nations that are considering buying arms and other military equipment from Moscow.

In the meantime, the intent of the sanctions is to "actually get to what one would call in the military a course correction in this space. The intent is to fix the situation."

Because there are shared interests, the sanctions - while not limited to a particular timeframe - are "definitely a vehicle for course correction," Cooper told reporters. "The whole idea of sanctions is they don’t stay on infinitum. They do provide opportunities for reconciliation.  They do provide an opportunity to identify pathways."

In the long-term, Washington wants Turkey to remain in the NATO alliance. "The United States wants to remain in a close bilateral relationship. It would be not to our benefit for us not to seek reconciliation of this space. That said, there remains work to be done.  And there are solutions from an interoperable standpoint and an alliance standpoint that would address not only from an air defense perspective, but an integrated air defense perspective for Turkey."

Cooper also made it clear that the CAATSA implementation is not tied to U.S. arms sales or transfers.

"We encourage all our partners to avoid Russian arms purchases.  They do not have to buy American, though our options provide a much better preferred choice.  Other NATO allies and partners also offer capable systems without using proceeds of defense sales to finance malign behavior."

TURAN's correspondent also asked Cooper if Washington was at all concerned about Russia inserting itself in the South Caucasus, most recently in Nagorno-Karabakh, and whether the U.S. is prepared to help Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, to stand up against Russian influence.

"... You made the observation, and I would certainly concur, is that where there is Russian presence in these cases there’s risk of disruption, and certainly one that would be a challenge to all the states and parties involved there. It is why the United States has taken some additional focus and attention in the humanitarian space," the Assistant Secretary said in his response.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.