In late October 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department lifted sanctions it had imposed earlier this month on Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Minister of National Defence, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and the Minister of the Interior. Sanctions were imposed due to Turkey’s actions in “escalating violence, endangering innocent civilians, and destabilizing the region,” according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Turkey’s incursion into Syria primarily targeted U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in the area.
U.S. sanctions law requires that all property and assets of sanctioned foreign government entities or officials located in the U.S. or “in the possession of U.S. persons” must be blocked and reported to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The U.S. may also penalize individuals and foreign financial institutions who engage in transactions with sanctioned agencies or government officials.
The sanctions were lifted in response to Turkey’s agreement to a ceasefire in northern Syria. The ceasefire was announced after talks between U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Erdogan in Ankara. The ceasefire allows Kurdish-led forces five days to withdraw from the “safe zone” that Turkey wishes to establish inside the Syrian border, and was announced to be permanent by the U.S. government.
