US spending bill drops Turkey sanctions

Source:al Monitor Date:23Mar2018

Turkey averted political sanctions by Congress in the last second, but the threat is not over, reports Amberin Zaman of al Monitor.

“Tough love” prescribes Asli Aydintasbas writing at Washington Post:

Incoming Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should take a longer view. Abandonment is not an option; doing business with Erdogan is important and necessary. But so is the need to find a level of engagement that combines collaboration with tough measures — ones that that force the Turkish leader to ease up on dissent. Just as Berlin appears to be doing, Washington should regard the release of imprisoned U.S. citizens and Turkish journalists, and the lifting of Turkey’s state of emergency as benchmarks for specific steps aimed at improvement of relations.