{"id":21565,"date":"2025-04-19T08:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T08:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/?p=21565"},"modified":"2025-04-19T08:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T08:13:13","slug":"bipartisan-legislation-seeks-to-rein-in-erdogans-turkey-over-ties-to-us-foes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/19\/bipartisan-legislation-seeks-to-rein-in-erdogans-turkey-over-ties-to-us-foes\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan legislation seeks to rein in Erdogan’s Turkey over ties to US foes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
<\/a> close<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\"Greek<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture> Video<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Greek Defense Minister Dendias on Turkey’s ‘neo-Ottoman’ policy<\/a><\/h4>\n

Greek Defense Minister Dendias sounds the alarm over Turkish President Erdogan’s interference in the Middle East, Black, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A group of bipartisan House lawmakers are introducing legislation to redesignate Turkey<\/a> as a Near Eastern country at the State Department, rather than a European country, as Ankara has moved away from the U.S. and NATO allies.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The group of lawmakers, led by Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., introduced the Turkey Diplomatic Realignment Act, which looks to formally move Turkey\u2019s designation at the U.S. State Department from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, reflecting Ankara\u2019s deepening ties with Russia, China, Iran, and Hamas, which are fundamentally at odds with Western security interests.<\/p>\n

“Turkey is at a crossroads, but Erdogan has made his choice,” Schneider said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

TURKEY’S CONFRONTATIONAL FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES GREECE, EUROPEAN UNION AMID RISING MARITIME TENSIONS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"Erdogan<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024.<\/span> (Alexnder Zemlianichenko\/PoolL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“His government harbors Hamas operatives, props up Putin\u2019s war machine, and obstructs NATO unity\u2014while still demanding the privileges of a Western ally. It\u2019s time for American diplomacy to stop pretending that Turkey is still part of Europe,” Rep. Schneider added.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Bilirakis said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan<\/a> repeatedly acts contrary to American interests, with dangerous behavior contributing to the instability of the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The time has come for official U.S. foreign policy to more accurately reflect the realities of this hostile regime\u2019s conduct and for Erdogan to be held accountable,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The Turkish government took issue with how members of Congress are characterizing its foreign policy and European orientation.<\/p>\n

“T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s European identity is an undeniable historical and geostrategic fact. As a strong member of NATO, the Council of Europe, OSCE and an associate EU member, T\u00fcrkiye is part and parcel of European institutional framework and universal values that these institutions represent,” an official from the Turkish embassy in Washington\u00a0told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

TRUMP UNIQUELY PLACED TO \u2018WHISPER\u2019 IN ERDOGAN\u2019S EAR OVER TURKISH REGIONAL AMBITIONS: GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"Erdogan<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and the then-Hamas terror leader Ismail Haniyeh (R) at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey, on July 26, 2023.<\/span> (\u00a0Mustafa Kamaci\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

“The government of Turkey has become a headache for U.S. policymakers. If Ankara maintains its current trajectory, that headache will soon become a migraine,” Jonathan Schanzer, Executive Director at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe during a hearing on the future trajectory of Turkey between the West and the East.<\/p>\n

He told the subcommittee that Turkey behaves too often like an adversary, pursuing malign domestic and foreign policies that fly in the face of U.S. interests. He cited Turkey\u2019s established track record of supporting Middle East terrorist groups and rogue states, including Hamas and other groups.<\/p>\n

He also said that Turkey used its NATO platform to undermine American interests. Turkey held Washington hostage by demanding the sale of F-16 fighter jets in exchange for its approval in admitting Sweden and Finland<\/a> into the alliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

TURKISH LEADER CLAIMS US BASES IN GREECE POSE DIRECT ‘THREAT’ AMID SPAT WITH ATHENS OVER NATO EXPANSION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"Erdogan<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) meets former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) at the 16th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on November 9, 2023.\u00a0<\/span> (Photo by TUR Presidency \/ Murat Cetinmuhurdar \/ Handout\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Erdogan has deepened Turkey\u2019s relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine, purchasing the Russian-made S-400 <\/a>missile defense system. And while much of the NATO alliance imposed stifling economic sanctions on Russia and looked to move away from energy dependence on Russia, Turkey maintained close trade and energy ties with Russia.<\/p>\n

The proposed legislation requires the State Department to reassign Turkey\u2019s diplomatic status within 90 days and submit a five-year congressional review on the consequences of Turkey\u2019s realignment away from Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Endy Zemenides, Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council and whose organization supports the legislation, told Fox News Digital that he applauds the bipartisan group of legislators for requiring the State Department to deal with Ankara realistically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“An honest evaluation of the U.S .foreign policy bureaucracy reveals that we have unwittingly granted Turkey a “lobby” within multiple State Department bureaus, the size of which is wholly undeserved by a country that has, at best, become “neither friend nor foe,” Zemenides told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

close Video Greek Defense Minister Dendias on Turkey’s ‘neo-Ottoman’ policy Greek Defense Minister Dendias sounds the alarm over Turkish President Erdogan’s interference in the Middle East, Black, Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. A group of bipartisan House lawmakers are introducing legislation to redesignate Turkey as a Near Eastern country at the State Department, rather than a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22615,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21565\/revisions\/22615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}