US adds Turkey to list of countries implicated in use of child soldiers

July 2, 2021: The United States on Thursday added Turkey to its list of countries involved in the use of child soldiers over the past year, the first time such a list had been added to a NATO ally.

It is likely to be complicate already fraught relations between Ankara and Washington. The US State Department pledged in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) that Turkey was providing “solid support” to the Sultan Murad Division in Syria, a group of Syrian opposition groups that Ankara has long supported. The group is known to recruit and use child soldiers.

There was no immediate reaction from Turkey to the move.

In a briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official also referred to the use of child soldiers in Libya, saying Washington hoped to work with Ankara on the issue.

“Especially with regard to Turkey … this is the first time a NATO member has been added to the list of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act,” the State Department official said. “As a respected regional leader and a member of NATO, Turkey has had the opportunity to address this issue – the recruitment and use of child soldiers in Syria and Libya,” he said.

In addition to the so-called Islamic State, Turkey has carried out three cross-border operations in Syria against US-backed Kurdish militias in Syria and has frequently used armed Syrian militant factions as its forces.

Some of these groups have been accused by human rights groups and the United Nations of indiscriminately attacking civilians and kidnapping and looting. The United Nations has called on Ankara to rein in the Syrian rebels, but Turkey has dismissed the allegations as “baseless.” Turkey has also been involved in the Libya conflict through proxies and its own armed forces. Ankara’s support has helped the Tripoli-based government reverse a 14-month offensive by Egyptian and Russian-backed Eastern forces. Governments on the list are banned, with some security assistance and military equipment trade licenses missing, according to a State Department report.

It was not immediately clear whether sanctions would automatically be imposed on Turkey, and the move raises questions about whether Turkey’s ongoing talks with Washington in Ankara to run Afghanistan’s Kabul airport. Can derail State Department spokesman Ned Price said the two had nothing to do with each other. “When it comes to human trafficking, I do not want to link this report today to the constructive discussions we are engaging with Turkey in the context of the common interests of Turkey or Afghanistan,” he said in a briefing.

Turkey has offered to guard and run Hamid Karzai airport after NATO’s withdrawal and has been holding talks with the United States on logistic and financial support for the mission.

The mission could be a potential area of cooperation between Ankara and its allies amid strained ties, as the security of the airport is crucial for the operation of diplomatic missions out of Afghanistan after the withdrawal.

To carry out this task, Ankara has sought various financial and operational support, and President Joe Biden, in a meeting last month with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had said that US support would be forthcoming, Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan had said.

Price described Turkey as a “very constructive and very helpful partner” when it comes to Afghanistan and added that Washington could have more to say on the implications.

“As you know there is a potential for waivers that would come down from the president but that will happen, if it does, in the coming months,” he said.

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