- Updated October 24, 2023
Years Listed
Each shaded box corresponds to a year the country appeared on the CSPA list and what types of waivers it received, if any.
Turkey appeared on the CSPA list in 2021 and 2023. The U.S. president waived, either in part or in full, CSPA prohibitions against the provision of U.S. arms sales and military assistance to Turkey each year it was listed, resulting in the provision of a combined total of more than $1.5 million in International Military Education and Training in FY2022 and FY2024. The president has never denied Turkey any arms sales or military assistance due to CSPA prohibitions.
Since 2021, U.S. presidents have been required to include justifications for CSPA waivers that were issued during the previous year in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. Turkey’s 2021 waiver justification maintained that “[m]ilitary assistance as well as the issuance of export licenses for Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) of military equipment to the Government of Turkey, are crucial to maintaining cooperation with Turkey that advance U.S. interests and strengthen the NATO alliance.”
According to the U.S. State Department, the Turkish government provided operational, equipment, and financial support to armed opposition groups in Syria that recruit and use child soldiers. In justifying Turkey’s 2021 CSPA waiver, the president specified that one such group was the Sultan Murad Division. Of the 820 children reportedly recruited and used in the Syrian conflict in 2020, 191 cases were attributed to Turkish-supported armed opposition groups. Turkish support for these groups was ongoing as recently as April 2022 through March 2023, the reporting period for the 2023 CSPA list.
The Turkish government has worked to identify trafficking victims, including child soldiers. In 2020, the government identified 349 trafficking victims (an increase compared to 2019 and 2020), including 14 child soldiers. The government also supported former child soldiers, and successfully reintegrated 14 victims during the reporting period for the 2022 CSPA list.
For more information, see the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report and Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
Total Waived and Prohibited
Since the CSPA took effect.
Explore the Data
Country- and program-level data on the number and type of national interest waivers granted, as well as the amount of arms sales and military assistance waived.
