MENG AND BILIRAKIS INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO HALT FUTURE DEPLOYMENT OF U.S. STRATEGIC ASSETS IN TURKEY

Bipartisan bill comes on heels of U.S.-Turkey summit in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Grace Meng (D-NY), a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Co-Chair of the Hellenic Caucus, announced today that they have introduced legislation which would prohibit the Department of Defense from using funds to deploy strategic assets in Turkey after 2020. The legislation comes in response to the deterioration of U.S.-Turkey relations, and on the heels of President Erdogan’s problematic White House visit last week.

Since the 1960s, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has had a nuclear sharing policy where NATO members can host U.S. nuclear weapons as part of a broader NATO nuclear posture. As Turkey develops stronger relations with geopolitical adversaries to NATO, including Russia and Iran, it is time to reconsider any future deployment of strategic assets.

“Turkey — once considered a friend and ally of the United States — has become tangled with the likes of Russia, Syria and Iran,” said Congresswoman Meng. “Turkey’s military incursion into Syria that targeted U.S. Kurdish allies and purchase of advanced Russian antiaircraft missile systems undermine U.S. national security. It is glaringly apparent that the time has come to re-evaluate any deployment of America’s strategic assets in Turkey.”

“Unfortunately, under the control of President Erdogan, Turkey has proven that it can no longer be trusted as a reliable ally of the United States,” said Congressman Bilirakis. “Deploying strategic assets to Turkey no longer makes sense.”

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