U.S. double standards over Turkey's S-400 purchase slammed
By Vugar Khalilov
Turkey’s Yeni Shafak newspaper has criticized the U.S. double standards on exempting India from sanctions for purchasing Russian S-400 air defence systems.
The newspaper reports that the U.S.Senate is enacting a law to exclude India (which is as Turkey, bought the S-400 air defence system from Russia) from the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
It was stressed that Washington imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey for purchasing the S-400 systems while ignoring India for its security relationship with China.
A bill has been submitted to the U.S. Senate to prevent India from being sanctioned under CAATSA, which came into effect in 2017, for its S-400 purchase, the report added.
The Washington administration's effort to exempt India from sanctions was interpreted as double standards and hypocrisy.
Using the Quadruple Security Dialogue (QUAD) alliance as a shield, U.S. senators submitted legislation to the Senate to prevent QUAD members Australia, Japan and India from being exposed to CAATSA sanctions due to their defence agreements with China and Russia.
Submitted by the Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Todd Young, and Roger Marshall, the CRUCIAL Act (Circumspectly Reducing Unintended Consequences Impairing Alliances and Leadership Act of 2021) would for 10 years exempt three members of the Quad - Australia, Japan, and India - from U.S. sanctions.
“The CRUCIAL law will prevent the imposition of sanctions against our closest regional allies in the Indo-Pacific. India is a critical part of the security architecture that converged against China during the Trump administration. Now, imposing these sanctions by President Joe Biden, aimed at deterring Russia, would be to undo all this progress,” Cruz said pointing out that the U.S. and India have strong allied relations.
The newspaper writes that such attitude towards India by the U.S. Congress, which forced the administration to impose sanctions on NATO member Turkey for buying S-400, is not understandable.
Turkey is subject to sanctions in many sectors within the scope of CAATSA sanctions. Due to the S-400 conflict, Turkey was excluded from the fifth-generation fighter jet F-35 program, of which it was a project partner, produced more than 100 parts and invested millions of dollars.
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