Μake us preferred on Google Two Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation on Friday that would condition parts of the United States’ security relationship with Turkey on measurable improvements in human rights and rule of law.
The proposal represents an effort to use Washington’s military ties with a NATO ally as leverage over the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkey Human Rights Promotion Act of 2026, introduced in the House by Representative Dina Titus of Nevada and in the Senate by Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, would restrict federal funds for foreign military financing, government managed military sales and other security assistance programs unless the secretary of state certified that Turkey had met four conditions.
The measure would not impose a blanket arms embargo or automatically prohibit every defense transaction with Ankara. It would, however, establish a significant new human rights test for certain forms of American security support.
The secretary of state would have to certify that Turkey had taken sustained steps to reduce the number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including by releasing people detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights.
The government would also have to stop using counterterrorism and disinformation laws to criminalize peaceful expression, association and political participation.
A third requirement concerns decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Ankara would have to demonstrate concrete steps toward complying with binding judgments, including those involving Osman Kavala, a civil society leader imprisoned since 2017, and Selahattin Demirtas, a prominent Kurdish politician detained since 2016.
The European court has ordered the release of both men. Turkish courts have not carried out those judgments.
The final condition would require Turkey to end, or no longer systematically engage in, transnational repression against critics abroad. The bill uses that term to cover actions including surveillance, threats, attempted abductions, forced returns and the misuse of Interpol notices.
The proposed restrictions include an important exception. The secretary of state could waive them in an individual case after determining that continued assistance served a vital national security interest of the United States.
The secretary would have to notify the appropriate congressional committees, explain the reason for the waiver and describe American efforts to secure reforms from Turkey. That provision would leave the executive branch considerable discretion, even if the legislation became law.
Other sections of the measure are less forceful. They express the position of Congress but would not, on their own, require the president to act.
Among them is a call for Global Magnitsky sanctions against Turkish officials found responsible for serious human rights violations, including politically motivated detentions and severe restrictions on freedom of expression.
The bill also urges the State Department to impose visa restrictions under the policy known as the Khashoggi Ban on people believed to have participated in serious operations against dissidents outside Turkey. In some cases, the restrictions could extend to their relatives.
The proposal would direct the State Department to support Turkish civil society organizations working to secure the release of political prisoners, document abuses and assist victims of politically motivated prosecutions.
It would also require the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development to expand support for independent journalists and media organizations, including those operating in exile, as well as groups working on digital security and privacy.
The secretary of state would be required to submit an initial report to Congress within 180 days of the legislation’s enactment, followed by annual reports for five years.
Those reports would assess political detentions, restrictions on expression and the press, pressure on opposition parties and incidents of repression outside Turkey. They would also examine whether the Turkish government had used goods, services or technology of American origin for surveillance, censorship or other serious abuses.
“Turkey is a NATO ally, but that alliance carries obligations,” Ms. Titus said in announcing the legislation.
She accused the Erdogan government of imprisoning political opponents and journalists, prosecuting lawyers for representing their clients and applying broadly worded terrorism laws against religious and ethnic minorities.
Mr. Markey described Mr. Erdogan’s government as authoritarian and accused the Trump administration of rewarding Ankara despite continued repression. The legislation, he said, was intended to demonstrate that American security cooperation should not be separated from civil liberties.
The bill’s findings present a sweeping account of Turkey’s political crackdown since a failed coup in 2016. Citing State Department and nongovernmental sources, the sponsors say Turkish authorities dismissed or suspended more than 60,000 police officers and military personnel, removed about 125,000 civil servants and purged roughly one third of the judiciary.
The proposal also says more than 95,000 people were arrested or imprisoned and more than 1,500 nongovernmental organizations were closed on terrorism related grounds. It cites an estimate by Prison Insider that about 43,000 political prisoners remain in Turkish prisons.
Those figures are assertions contained in the proposed legislation. They have not been independently adopted as findings by either chamber of Congress.
The Turkish government has previously rejected foreign demands for Mr. Kavala’s release, saying that the case was being handled by independent courts and that outside governments should not interfere in Turkish judicial proceedings.
That position predates the new legislation and does not constitute a response to it.
