CAATSA

CAATSA stands for “Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act”. It is a law passed by the United States of America through which it has imposed sanctions on countries like Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Turkey. This legislation was introduced in the year 2017.

Key Points for UPSC Prelims

  • CAATSA mandated that sanctions should be imposed on Iran for its ballistic missile & mass destruction weapons programme, sale of military weapons, and against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
  • CAATSA provides sanctions on Russia regarding activities involving cybersecurity, crude oil projects, financial institutions, corruption, etc. Similar restrictions have been imposed on North Korea also.

US imposed CAATSA on Turkey

  • Recently, the USA has imposed sanctions on Turkey under CAATSA, for the purchase of S 400 defense equipment from Russia.
  • USA has raised concerns about the deal of Turkey to purchase the S 400 air defense system from Russia earlier but both Russia and Turkey ignored the threats by the US and signed the deal in the year 2017.
  • The sanctions have been on Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) under Section 231 of CAATSA.
  • The sanctions imposed by the USA through CAATSA include a ban on granting specific U.S. export licenses and authorizations for any goods or technology to SSB, a ban on U.S. Export-Import Bank assistance for exports, and a ban on loans or credits by U.S. financial institutions totaling more than $10 million in any 12-month period.
  • The sanctions have also mandated opposition of the US to the loans provided to SSB by international financial organizations.
  • The sanctions also comprise visa restrictions for the SSB president and other officials of the agency.
  • However, these sanctions have come very late as the first component of S-400 reached Turkey in July 2019.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program

After the signing of the S-400 air defense system deal between Turkey and Russia, the US raised security concerns that usage of S-400 can allow access to sensitive US data to Russia. In response to the Russia-Turkey deal, the US Senate added a clause to its version of the annual defense budget bill for 2019 which seeks to block the transfer of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Turkey.

Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) 

Presidency of Defense Industries, formerly known as Savunma Sanayii Ba?kanl??? (SSB) is the main defense procurement agency of Turkey. It was established in the year 1985.

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