WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Tuesday released the following statement:
“No one but Trump is to blame for the chaos Turkey has unleashed in Syria, and we all need to acknowledge it will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. It's absurd that Trump is now sanctioning Turkey for an invasion that he invited and announced. No one should fall for this attempted about-face.
"Congress now has a decision to make: do something in haste that makes us feel powerful or do something strategic that accounts for the fact that much of the harm Trump has done cannot be reversed. First, Congress has a responsibility to get to the bottom of why Trump made this surprise decision last Sunday night. Any legislation that Congress takes up should require the president, and any candidate for president, to disclose their tax returns. Second, Congress needs to make sure America does its part to alleviate the humanitarian nightmare caused by Trump's unconscionable double crossing of the Kurds. Congress should require Trump to take increased numbers of Kurdish refugees into the United States, and we should provide countries like Iraq with humanitarian aid to help deal with a new influx of refugees. As it pertains to sanctions against Turkey, Congress should be targeted and thoughtful. This means passing only those sanctions necessary to encourage the prospective behaviors we want Turkey to engage in. Sanctions to simply punish them for actions that the President of the United States invited them to take makes no strategic sense. Thus, our sanctions should seek to deter Turkey and Turkish-backed forces from committing war crimes or obstructing humanitarian relief. Sanctions should disincentivize the forced repatriation of Syrian refugees living in Turkey. And sanctions should punish Turkey for knowingly allowing ISIS to regroup.
"Congress needs to think before we act and make sure that legislation we pass doesn't create more problems than it solves," said Murphy.
Last week, Murphy blasted the administration’s announcement of an impending Executive Order to sanction Turkey over its actions in Syria. Murphy and U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) also called on the president to reconsider his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and open the door for Turkey to attack, calling it a victory for Assad, Russia, Iran, and ISIS. Murphy also held a press conference in Connecticut this week with members of the Syrian Kurdish community in Connecticut and legal experts to discuss the president’s reckless foreign policy decisions that greenlighted Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria. Murphy was joined by Azad Hamoto, Kate Dischino, and Will Kneerim. He also took questions from the press.
###
