President Trump announced Monday afternoon that he will soon issue an executive order imposing sanctions against Turkey for its “destabilizing” offensive in Syria, amid a bipartisan outcry over the president’s troop pullback earlier this month that endangered U.S.-aligned Kurdish forces.
The sanctions followed the president’s Oct. 7 threat, when he warned that “if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).”
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence told reporters that Trump had communicated on a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he wanted Turkey to implement an immediate ceasefire. Trump also offered to mediate an arbitration, the vice president said, and directed Pence and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien to lead a delegation to Turkey to begin negotiations immediately.
And South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has strongly opposed his decision to withdraw from parts of Syria, said in a statement that he “strongly” supports the president’s sanctions.
“The President made it clear to Turkish officials that any attack on Kobani, a Kurdish enclave near the Turkish border, would be an international outrage that could not stand,” Graham, who was on the call with Trump and officials in the region, added. – READ MORE