On October 23, 2019, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed sanctions on two Turkish government ministries and three Turkish cabinet officials "following Turkey's pause in military operations in Syria as agreed to with the United States on October 17, 2019."
OFAC had sanctioned Turkey's Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, as well as the Turkish ministers of National Defence, Interior, and Energy on October 14, 2019, pursuant to a broad executive order targeting the Government of Turkey in response to Turkey's military offensive in northeast Syria. See our prior alert: United States Imposes Sanctions on Turkish Government Ministries and Cabinet Officials.
The executive order remains in force and provides the necessary authority to impose sanctions on the Turkish government should Turkey fail to abide by the terms of the ceasefire or tensions between Turkey and the United States continue.
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