Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden amended an executive order that raised a dispute with its NATO ally Türkiye.
The executive order on Syria fulfills Ankara’s demands to remove all expressions regarding Türkiye from an earlier decree that called for sanctions on the country over its Operation Peace Spring in 2019.
Türkiye’s operation in its neighbor Syria angered Washington, which also serves as an ally of the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK terrorist group that has killed thousands in Türkiye since the 1980s. The United States, which partners with the YPG in Syria under the guise of a fight against Daesh, declared a national emergency for Syria, claiming that the conditions in Syria were disrupting the fight against Daesh, paving the way for imposing sanctions against Türkiye.
Under the Trump administration, the United States issued sanctions for Türkiye’s defense, energy and natural resources ministries as well as Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. When the operation ended, Trump ordered the removal of the sanctions.
Amendments in the executive order say Biden, in view of changing circumstances on the ground in Syria, struck the phrase “and in particular the recent actions by the Government of Turkey to conduct a military offensive into northeast Syria.” Amendments also lift sanctions for Turkish officials such as barring entry to the U.S.
Türkiye has considered the Executive Order as an obstacle in its fight against the PKK/YPG. The PKK/YPG still enjoys unconditional support from the United States, from military equipment to ammunition as it carved out a de facto territory for itself in northeastern Syria, something opposed both by Ankara and the current rulers of Syria. After the fall of the Assad regime, the PKK/YPG announced its intention to integrate itself with the new Syrian army while Türkiye urged the group to lay down arms, expel non-Syrian fighters among them or be prepared for new cross-border offensives.