Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bob Casey Jr. (D-Penn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) today introduced two resolutions to require Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to detail Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s human rights abuses throughout the south Caucasus, within their own countries, and, in Turkey’s case, in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. The resolutions also require information on what role U.S. security assistance may be playing in these abuses to inform whether the United States should restrict or end security assistance and arms sales to those countries. Both resolutions invoke statutory authority under section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA).

Athens continues its diplomatic counterattack, with Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias asking his counterparts in Italy, Germany, and Spain to impose an arms embargo on Turkey.

France and Germany today accused Turkey of continuing to challenge the European Union with its actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and gave it a week to clarify its positions.