Senator Lindsey Graham, notorious for his anti-Turkish stance, issued a sanctions threat against Türkiye as Ankara underlined its commitment to stop the PKK terrorist group from exploiting the security vacuum in Syria.
The Republican senator, who has been close to President-elect Donald Trump, has long championed protests against Türkiye over the latter’s counterterrorism operations in Syria against the YPG, the Syria wing of the PKK.
Although the PKK is designated as a terrorist group by Washington, the YPG is treated as a “partner” by the United States under the pretext that it helps fight against Daesh, another terrorist group. The U.S. regularly provides military support to the YPG, which is now cornered in northeastern Syria.
Following the fall of the Assad regime earlier this month, the PKK/YPG was driven by Syrian opposition forces from Tal Rifaat and Manbij, key towns it occupied amid lawlessness in war-torn Syria.
Ankara endorses efforts by the Syrian National Army (SNA) and, in the past, launched cross-border offensives to help SNA stave off Daesh and the PKK/YPG from areas they occupied in northern Syria.
The U.S. has announced airstrikes against Daesh amid the fall of the Assad regime, something Graham “appreciated.”
The senator said on a social media post that the U.S. should not allow “Kurdish forces who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch to be threatened by Turkey or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria.”
“If Turkey takes military action against Kurdish forces in Syria, it will jeopardize America’s interests dramatically,” he wrote.
“Kurdish forces” refer to the PKK/YPG, which claim to fight for Kurdish self-rule in the region.
“In the past, I have drafted sanctions targeting Turkey if they engage in military operations against the Kurdish forces. I stand ready to do this again in a bipartisan way,” Graham further wrote.
Graham and other U.S. lawmakers ramped up their efforts to impose measures against Ankara in 2019 when Türkiye launched Operation Peace Spring to clear PKK/YPG terrorists from northern Syria.
Normally an ardent defender of fellow Republican Trump, Graham and some others in his party have been harshly critical of Trump's decision to withdraw troops from northeastern Syria ahead of the Turkish counterterrorism operation.
Graham and a bipartisan group of senators introduced the same year legislation to sanction top Turkish officials, restrict visa access to the U.S., block future arms sales and prevent U.S. investors from buying Turkish sovereign debt.
Trump later backtracked, deciding instead to send in U.S. troops to protect oil fields in eastern Syria where the PKK/YPG occupies swathes of territory.
The issue strains Turkish-U.S. ties as Ankara warns its NATO ally against aiding terror elements that threaten its national security, something Washington continues to do despite promising to remove the group from the Turkish border area.
The U.S. and Türkiye reached an agreement to ensure the safe withdrawal of YPG terrorists from the northern city of Manbij after the advance by SNA.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday stressed all terrorists in Syria, including PKK/YPG and Daesh, would be “stomped out.”
Washington, however, said it will maintain its presence in eastern Syria. Some 900 U.S. troops are stationed there alongside the YPG.
