What the European Union failed to do, Washington did in a very high-profile manner on Monday, with the now lame duck Trump administration finally implementing penalties against fellow NATO member Turkey.
The action came a year and a half after the increasingly belligerent Erdogan-led Turkey acquired the Russian-made S400 anti-aircraft missile system, complete with radars and training.
The United States, especially both Houses of Congress, along with America's defense establishment have sharply criticized the Turkish move, as compromising western-made air power.
The sanctions were announced by the US Department of the Treasury and target Turkey's defense procurement agency, known as the presidency of defense industries, along with its top leadership.
The US Congress essentially overturned the White House's opposition by passing an annual defense policy bill last week that required the outgoing Trump administration to implement sanctions within 30 days. The prospect that a Trump veto would not be overridden also appeared slim, forcing him to sign the bill.
So far, the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) has been linked to Iran, North Korea and Russia, whereby sanctions are applied to any country that has made a "significant purchase" of weapons from the trio.
In a post from his official Twitter account on Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has emerged as a "hawk" vis-a-vis Erdogan and Turkey noted that "...Despite our warnings, Turkey moved ahead with its purchase and testing of the S-400 system from Russia. Today’s sanctions on Turkey's SSB demonstrates the U.S. will fully implement #CAATSA. We will not tolerate significant transactions with Russia's defense sector."
As expected, Greece's foreign ministry on Monday afternoon wholly praised the development, coming days after Germany and a handful of other EU members blocked substantive sanctions against non-EU member Turkey.
