Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a “terror state.” The irony of this declaration should not be lost on Americans.

By all accounts, Turkey, once a strong and important ally in the fight against communism, has become an authoritarian state that supports terrorists. Moreover, it is run by a strongman thug who orders acts of violence on Americans, as demonstrated by the events in Washington outside the Turkish embassy in May. Such protests pale in comparison to the systematic violence Erdogan uses against peaceful demonstrators in his own country and the bombs he drops on Kurdish villagers, who are supposedly under Turkey’s protection.

Turkey has jailed Americans, including Pastor Andrew Brunson of North Carolina, who has been in a Turkish prison following the failed 2016 coup. Pastor Brunson faces life in prison, if convicted in a pre-determined “kangaroo court,” for simply living his faith. This is yet another example of Turkey violating the freedoms of religion and speech, and using hostages to pressure the United States. Hostage diplomacy is a strategy embraced by tyrannical governments.

Further, the incendiary anti-Israel comments made by President Erdogan following President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel encourage violence against America, Israel, and the cause of liberty. President Trump kept a promise that presidents before him, including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, made but did not fulfill. For this, President Trump should be lauded, as he affirmed the practical reality of the location of Israel’s government.

More troubling than President Erdogan’s insidious claims about Israel is his own track record on terrorism.

During the height of the Syrian civil war, it was widely reported that the Erdogan regime willfully ignored the flow of guns and cash to radical Islamic jihadists, including ISIS and al Qaeda. During a 2015 trip to Turkey with my colleagues on the House Financial Services Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing, I sought to question the Turkish Foreign Minister and officials on widespread reports of open borders, allowing access for the black market sale of oil and the migration of jihad fighters to Syria, along with their support of Muslim Brotherhood. For the next two hours, they craftily stonewalled and filibustered and avoided responding to direct questions. Our follow-up letter with the same inquiries received no response.

As well, we know Turkey partners with Iran to participate in sanction-evasion schemes, including “gas-for-gold,” which gave Tehran $13 billion. This was all happening while other NATO allies attempted to ratchet up economic pressure against Iran’s nuclear program.

All Americans should be concerned that Turkey, under the leadership of President Erdogan, has allegedly been directly involved in financing Hamas, which the State Department lists as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Disturbingly clear is that Turkey has been complicit in supporting ISIS.

President Erdogan’s position against Israel is a formal declaration of Turkey’s support for Islamic terrorists. Their opposition to Israel is a sharp departure from the country’s former steadfast support for America and our shared interests.

U.S. policy should begin to reflect this shifting reality. We must call this for what it is and publicly rebuke Turkey’s complicity in terrorism financing. The United States government must not be held hostage by our base in Turkey and our past alliance.

The federal government, including the Departments of Treasury and State, along with Congress, should begin identifying individuals or institutions in Turkey that have ties to terrorism and consider designating them as such to demonstrate our seriousness. As Vice Chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, and Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism, I will continue to push for policies that recognize the reality we all must face with Turkey.

That reality is this: Turkey’s oppression of its political opposition, its violence against the innocent, jailing of journalists and pastors, funding and support of jihadists, and evasion of sanctions against Iran are truly the actions of a terrorist state.

Congressman Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., is Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, and Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism.

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