[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 176 (Tuesday, November 5, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6372-S6374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Turkey and Syria

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
the U.S. relationship with Turkey and certain actions that the U.S. 
must consider in order to protect our national security interests and 
those of our true allies in the region.
  Today, more than ever, we need strong allies and partners in Europe. 
As the Trump administration does nearly everything in its power to 
erode our alliances and denigrate our closest friends, we find 
increasingly emboldened regimes in Russia and China. The U.S. cannot 
stand up to them alone. Throughout the Cold War, our diplomats worked 
assiduously to build strong bonds with allies, knowing that having 
close partners was better than having enemies on the world stage.
  Our strongest allies should be those in NATO, those that have made a 
treaty commitment to mutual defense, those who share our values, those 
who work in concert with us to face the threat from countries like 
Russia and Iran with common cause. Unfortunately, Turkey under Erdogan 
embodies none of those things. Today, I would like to lay out a fact 
pattern that so many of my colleagues have come to see in recent weeks, 
that Turkey under Erdogan should not, Turkey under Erdogan cannot be 
seen as an ally.
  How many more times do we need to see Turkey betray the values upon 
which NATO was established? How many more times do we need to see 
President Erdogan visit Moscow, Sochi, or any other Russian city to 
kiss Putin's ring? How many more journalists need to be locked up by 
Erdogan before we stop calling Turkey a democracy?
  Enough is enough. Over my 27 years in the House and the Senate, I 
have followed developments in the Eastern Mediterranean quite closely. 
Turkey's

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invasion of Cyprus in 1974 was a shocking attempt to redraw borders in 
Europe in the wake of World War II. To this day, Turkey's invasion of 
northern Cyprus must be see for what it is: an illegal occupation that 
must end. Turkey's action over those days in 1974 were not the actions 
of a democratic country. They were not the actions of a reliable ally. 
They were not the actions of a responsible actor on the world stage.
  But the events of 1974 would only presage Turkey's aggressive posture 
in the eastern Mediterranean in the years to come. To this day, Turkey 
under Erdogan continues to aggressively bully international energy 
companies, including U.S. companies, and the Republic of Cyprus. Their 
sin? Conducting completely legitimate exploration in the Cypriot 
Exclusive Economic Zone. This is not territory under dispute or an 
issue for debate. Turkey's hostility towards these companies is the 
kind of gunboat diplomacy that belongs to eras past and has no place in 
today's world.
  Examples abound where Turkey continues to operate in bad faith when 
it comes to Cyprus. It could abide by UN Security Council resolutions 
to transfer the fenced area of Varosha, Farmagusta to the 
administration of the United Nations.
  These calls to return this area to its original inhabitants, whom 
Turkey ejected during the 1974 invasion, have gone unheeded. Instead, 
several Turkish Ministers have recently visited and threatened to move 
forward with commercial development--a true affront to those forced 
from their land more than 40 years ago, as well as to the U.N. Security 
Council resolution.
  In the eastern Mediterranean, for years Turkey has also aggressively 
violated the airspace of neighboring Greece, also a NATO ally. These 
dangerous maneuvers have threatened the lives and safety of Greek 
pilots, as well as civilians living on the islands below. Greece wants 
a good neighbor in Turkey and has sought to find common ground upon a 
constructive relationship. But with these airspace violations, Turkey 
has shown its true colors, and the international community must come to 
terms with this.
  We have seen Turkey's belligerence abroad manifest itself even here 
in the United States. Who can forget when President Erdogan's 
bodyguards attacked U.S. citizens in a Washington park peacefully 
demonstrating, as is their constitutional right? And as momentum builds 
following the passage of the Armenian genocide resolution in the House 
of Representatives, Turkey and its lobbyists are working overtime to 
block it in the Senate because they know that if this resolution, which 
both I, Senator Cruz, and bipartisan Members on both sides have 
sponsored, were to come to the floor for a vote, it would pass 
resoundingly and send a clarion message that recognizes the truth. The 
Armenian genocide happened, it was a monstrous act, and those who deny 
it are complicit in a terrible lie. Genocide is genocide. The Senate 
should not bow to this pressure. It cannot bow to this pressure. Let's 
pass this resolution today.
  Erdogan's behavior abroad has roots inside of Turkey, where the 
democratic process has significantly eroded and religious freedom is 
under sustained pressure. In particular, the Ecumenical Patriarch 
Bartholomew of the Greek Orthodox Church--and its community--faces dire 
consequences as the spiritual head of the world's second largest 
Christian church. His church properties have been confiscated, and 
President Erdogan restricts his religious freedom. This is wrong, and 
his All Holiness deserves our attention and our ongoing support. For 
those who speak about religious freedom in this Chamber--and I admire 
the many who have--as well as on the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, this is also an issue of religious freedom.
  Of course, Erdogan's repression of his own citizens does not stop 
with restricting religious freedom. Following its emergency decree 
after a failed coup attempt, Turkish authorities engaged in a draconian 
crackdown and roundup of citizens across the country. The U.N. reports 
that close to 160,000 people were arrested in an 18-month period, 
including over 100 women who were pregnant or had just given birth, 
often on grounds of nothing more than that they were associated with 
their husbands, many of whom were suspects on trumped-up charges.
  As we examine Turkey's increasingly destructive role in the world, we 
must never turn a blind eye from those Turkish citizens who want a more 
democratic future for themselves and their families.
  In July, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed my Eastern 
Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act with a strong 
bipartisan vote. We are working for full passage in the Senate, and I 
understand the House Foreign Affairs Committee will mark up the 
legislation soon.
  I traveled to Greece and Cypress in the spring and told leaders in 
both places that this was not--not--an anti-Turkey bill and that we all 
wanted Turkey to be a constructive and democratic partner in the 
region. At the time, this vision seemed a long ways off, but now, given 
Erdogan's recent choices, it has become virtually impossible. Let's 
review events since my visit to the region in the spring of this year.
  First, Erdogan took delivery of the S-400 air defense system from 
Russia. Let me repeat. Turkey, a supposed NATO ally, purchased an air 
defense system from NATO's main adversary--the reason that NATO largely 
came to be. This choice endangered the security of the United States 
and other NATO partners. The United States made a good offer of the 
Patriot missile system--an offer that would have maintained the 
security equilibrium in the region and enabled Turkey to remain a NATO 
member in good standing. That offer was rejected.
  The Trump administration did the right thing in removing Turkey from 
the F-35 program. It was clear to all involved that the S-400 could not 
be parked next to an F-35. After all, it is meant and it is intended to 
be able to shoot down an F-35--this from a NATO ally.
  But the administration has fallen well short of its obligations under 
the law. Under the CAATSA law, which I helped write, the administration 
is required to sanction any entity that conducts a significant 
transaction with the Russian military or intelligence sectors. This 
provision of law is not permissive. It is not optional. Under no 
credible definition would the purchase of an S-400 Russian system not 
be considered significant. The administration is breaking the law by 
ignoring this provision and kowtowing to Ankara. According to U.S. law, 
Turkey must be sanctioned for the S-400 system, and it should happen 
today. Otherwise, it will send a global message that we are not serious 
about sanctioning significant transactions with the Russian military.
  Some have said that such an approach is unwarranted and unwise lest 
we push Erdogan into Putin's arms. He is already there. He clearly is 
already there.
  In a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Syria, I held up 
this poster, and I asked the Secretary of State: What is wrong with 
this picture? This picture of President Erdogan, President Putin, 
and President Rouhani of Iran says everything--says everything. They 
are two of our biggest foreign policy challengers. And who is there 
with them? Erdogan. I argued that we were ceding American leadership in 
Syria and the region to leaders and countries whose policies were 
intrinsically at odds with our own. Unfortunately, today we are seeing 
the terrible consequences of this abdication of leadership.

  Erdogan's warm relationship with Putin should ring alarm bells across 
the NATO alliance, raising concerns about NATO's exposure at Incirlik 
and intelligence vulnerabilities with respect to the alliance's 
presence in Turkey. It raises concerns about how Erdogan and Putin may 
be working together to counter U.S. interests across the Middle East, 
in the Balkans, and around the world. NATO is an alliance of shared 
values. None of those values are respected--none of them--by the 
current occupant of the Kremlin or in Ankara.
  Second, provided with a green light from the Trump administration, 
President Erdogan's invasion of Syria to attack our Kurdish partners is 
an unconscionable act of brutality that has caused death and untold 
suffering among our Kurdish friends and partners. Tens of thousands 
have fled the area, creating an even greater problem

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of refugees in that war-torn region. The consequences of these actions 
by Turkey and its proxies will persist for years to come.
  Turkey's incursion poses a direct threat to U.S. national security 
interests in the region, not the least of which is by facilitating 
Russian foreign policy ambitions in the region and opening the door for 
ISIS to reconstitute.
  At its inception, Turkey did not take the threat of ISIS seriously 
enough, and in the early days, ISIS's ability to easily traverse the 
Turkish-Syrian border bolstered its ability to grow in strength and 
numbers. Turkey did nothing--nothing--to stop them, did nothing to stop 
foreign fighters going into Syria. While Turkey has legitimate security 
concerns from the PKK, its singular focus on extending this feat to the 
whole Kurdish population risks its ability to effectively confront 
other terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al-Qaida.
  There must be a full accounting by Turkey of these atrocities. That 
is why I am today introducing an expedited resolution of request for 
the Secretary of State to inform the Senate in 30 days of the extent of 
Turkey's human rights abuses in Syria. This resolution invokes 
statutory authority under the Foreign Assistance Act to require the 
Secretary of State to assess and report to Congress on Turkey's human 
rights abuses in Syria. This resolution calls for the administration to 
provide all available information concerning alleged violations of 
internationally recognized human rights by Turkey, its armed forces, 
and associated groups in Syria. It calls for a description of the steps 
the United States has taken to promote Turkey's respect of human rights 
in its Syria operations. The resolution also calls for a determination 
of whether Turkey's actions have resulted in the release of ISIS or 
other extremists inside of Syria.
  I am also working closely with the chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee, Senator Risch, on the Promoting American National Security 
and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019, which would impose 
targeted sanctions on Turkey for its actions in Syria. A similar 
bipartisan measure passed the House last week, and I urge the Senate to 
deliberate on the measure. Based on changing circumstances on the 
ground, we are updating the language to condition sanctions based on 
Turkey's actions. I hope it will be marked up in the coming days.
  For years, the world held out hope that Turkey could be the bridge 
between east and west--a democratic, secular country that could be a 
democracy in Europe and a responsible actor on the world stage. I, for 
one, was always skeptical but certainly supported the sentiment. Today 
we are the furthest from that dream we have ever been. The most 
imprisoned journalists in the world--in the world--are not in North 
Korea, Russia, or Iran; they languish in Turkish prisons. This doesn't 
happen in a democracy.
  As international pressure mounted following Turkey's invasion of 
northern Syria, Erdogan threatened to unleash thousands of refugees 
onto the European Union's shores, a wave like we saw in 2015. These 
aren't the statements of a rational, responsible actor. Yet where is 
U.S. policy? The Trump administration was its normal erratic self in 
recent weeks as it flailed from sanctions on Turkey to claiming 
victory. The Kurds are the ones who emerged as the clear loser. Erdogan 
was eager to sign on to the Pence-Pompeo plan because it gave him all 
he wanted--full control of the Kurdish areas of Syria and carte blanche 
to wipe out swaths of the community.
  In addition to claiming victory, President Trump now wants to invite 
Erdogan to Washington with open arms. Stunning. The photo of Trump and 
Erdogan in the Oval Office will not only be the nail in the coffin for 
any Kurdish aspirations to live in peace and security, it will also be 
the death knell for any credibility the United States hopes to maintain 
with any combat partners in the future.
  President Trump, I urge you to cancel this invitation and side with 
the bipartisan consensus in the Senate and the House that Turkey, under 
Erdogan, is no friend to the United States. Do not ruin our reputation 
further by fawning over yet another authoritarian leader. You want to 
repair the damage that has been done? Show our commitment to our allies 
by inviting the Syrian Kurdish leadership to the Oval Office for a 
meeting on how we prevent a resurgence of ISIS. That is how you protect 
our interests. That is how you protect our national security.
  It is time to challenge Erdogan to live up to NATO's values and to 
respect the international order. It is time to stop enabling Turkey to 
be a bad actor. It is time for the Senate to act.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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