A shipment of guns and ammunition from the US to Turkish security forces was formally cancelled, after Congressional review.
The abrupt end of the weapons deal resulted from the fallout after a May incident in which bodyguards of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan severely beat a group of peaceful protesters in Washington, DC outside the Turkish embassy.
Erdogan’s security force was the intended recipient of the $1.2 million arms cache from New Hampshire gunmaker Sig Sauer. According to the Associated Press, the company itself requested cancellation of the deal.
Congress, however, had already taken steps to nix the shipment. Lawmakers were notified by the White House earlier this year that the administration intended to see the weapons deal through until completion, triggering a period of review on Capitol Hill.
The Senate Appropriations Committee this month approved an amendment to the annual State Department funding bill that would have blocked the arms sale.
“We are not going to let President Erdogan’s personal bodyguards attack peaceful American protesters on American soil—and we’re certainly not going to sell them weapons while they do it,” said Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who sponsored the amendment.
In July, the House approved of a similar resolution attached to a yearly defense policy bill.
Fifteen individuals identified to be part of Erdogan’s security force were indicted following the May attack. The Turkish government responded by promising to fight the indictments “politically and judicially.”
Ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Erdogan assembled a new team of bodyguards to travel with him to the US, removing from his detail 12 individuals who were indicted and risked being arrested upon arriving in the states.
