House lawmakers call on Trump to rescind Erdoğan's White House invite

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A bipartisan bloc of 17 House lawmakers is urging U.S. President Donald Trump to disinvite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from a planned White House visit on Nov. 13.

In a letter led by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the 15 House Democrats and two Republicans said Turkey's military offensive in northern Syria last month "has had disastrous consequences for U.S. national security, has led to deep divisions in the NATO alliance and caused a humanitarian crisis on the ground."

"Given this situation, we believe that now is a particularly inappropriate time for President Erdoğan to visit the United States, and we urge you to rescind this invitation," the lawmakers wrote, Politico reported on Nov. 11.

Erdoğan's visit comes at a particularly fraught time in U.S.-Turkey relations.

Last month, the House overwhelmingly condemned the U.S. pullout from northern Syria and subsequent Turkish military campaign against Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) the U.S. partnered with in the fight against ISIS.

House lawmakers also passed sweeping sanctions legislation targeting arms sales to Turkey, financial institutions and top Turkish military officials.

“Turkish forces have killed civilians and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a critical U.S. partner in the fight against ISIS, and displaced over one hundred thousand people from their homes in northern Syria,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Trump.

In addition to Erdoğan’s “calamitous actions” in Syria, the lawmakers cited a “long list of disconcerting steps” he has taken.

The letter listed Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, cooperation with Russia on the TurkStream gas pipeline and "unauthorized gas drilling in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone."

The U.S. has booted Turkey from its F-35 fighter program after it took delivery of the S-400 missile system, rebuffing warnings from lawmakers and administration officials as well as a counteroffer to purchase the U.S.-made Patriot missile system.

In an interview on Nov. 10, White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said Trump plans to confront Erdoğan during his White House visit over the purchase of the S-400 and warned Turkey will "feel the impact" of sanctions if it keeps the platform.

The lawmakers also slammed Erdoğan’s “systematic rollback of democratic institutions in Turkey, concentrating all political power in his person, persecuting political opponents and peaceful protesters and imprisoning journalists in shocking numbers.”

“His imprisonment of innocent American citizens and local staff from the U.S. Embassy is especially egregious,” they wrote.