Foreign Ministry: US Senate Approved Sanctions Bill Because Turkey Dealt Blow to Their Project

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reacted to a US Senate committee's approval of a sanctions bill against Turkey over its military operation in northern Syria and procurement of the S-400 air defense systems from Russia.

The reasons for the approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were "obvious" according to the ministry: "It is the deep resentment felt by some circles after the heavy blow we dealt to the project which was being meticulously planned for a long time."

CLICK - US Senate Committee Advances Turkey Sanctions Bill

While it did not specify the "project," the ministry said that the bill is supported by "known anti-Turkish circles" in both houses of the US Congress.

"The initiatives conducted in both houses of the Congress through internal political considerations and supported by known anti-Turkish circles, are yet another manifestation of the disrespect shown towards our sovereign decisions concerning our national security. Those initiatives have no other function than to harm Turkish-US relations.

"We had already given the necessary response to a similar draft bill passed by the House of Representatives on 29 October. Attempts to bring this new draft bill to the Senate floor show that our explanations fall on deaf ears.

"We call upon the US Congress to adopt a constructive approach safeguarding our common objectives to develop Turkish-US relations which were confirmed at the highest level in recent weeks and to act in a reasonable manner." (TP/VK)