Merely a week after sanctioning various departments of the
Turkish government over actions related to the conflict in Syria,
the U.S. government has now removed such sanctions.
On October 14, 2019, President Trump issued an Executive Order “Blocking Property
and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the
Situation in Syria” (the “E.O.”), targeting the
Turkish government for the recent military offensives into
northeast Syria. The E.O. provided the authority to impose a
broad spectrum of comprehensive sanctions on Turkey and those
supporting Turkey’s military efforts. Accompanying the E.O.,
the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset
Controls (“OFAC”) designated two government ministries
– the Government of Turkey’s Ministry of National
Defense and the Ministry of Natural Resources, and three senior
Turkish officials – the Minister of Interior, the Minister of
Energy, and the Minister of Defense. OFAC’s designation
of a NATO ally’s
