The reasons why the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee passed a draft bill aiming to impose sanctions against our country under the pretext of Operation Peace Spring and the S-400 system are obvious. It is the deep resentment felt by some circles after the heavy blow we dealt to the project which was being meticulously planned for a long time.

The initiatives conducted in both houses of the Congress through internal political considerations and supported by known anti-Turkish circles, are yet another manifestation of the disrespect shown towards our sovereign decisions concerning our national security. Those initiatives have no other function than to harm Turkish-U.S. relations.

We had already given the necessary response to a similar draft bill passed by the House of Representatives on 29 October. Attempts to bring this new draft bill to the Senate floor show that our explanations fall on deaf ears.

We call upon the U.S. Congress to adopt a constructive approach safeguarding our common objectives to develop Turkish-U.S. relations which were confirmed at the highest level in recent weeks and to act in a reasonable manner.