Turkey denounced US senators on Thursday after they backed legislation to impose sanctions over its military offensive in northern Syria and the purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system. The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 18-4 to send the "Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019" for a vote in the full Senate.
It was the latest move to push US President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Turkey. The Turkish foreign ministry described the latest initiatives in Congress as "a new manifestation of disrespect for our sovereign decisions regarding our national security".
"These initiatives do not have any function other than to harm Turkish-US relations," it said in a statement, calling on Congress to act with common sense.
Turkey - which has not wavered from its plans to buy the Russian missile defence system despite President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent visit to the White House, earlier vowed to retaliate against any US sanctions over its purchase of the S-400s and said economic penalties would not affect the deployment.
"It is understood that members of Congress have shut their eyes and ears to the truth," Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
Senator Jim Risch, the panel's Republican chairman, was a lead sponsor of the bill with Senator Bob Menendez, its top Democrat.
"Now's the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey's behaviour," said Risch.
"This is not some minor dustup with this country. This is a drift by this country, Turkey, to go in an entirely different direction than what they have in the past. They've thumbed their nose at us, and they've thumbed their nose at their other NATO allies," he said.