A group of bipartisan House lawmakers are introducing legislation to redesignate Turkey as a Near Eastern country at the State Department, rather than a European country, as Ankara has moved away from the U.S. and NATO allies.

The group of lawmakers, led by Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., introduced the Turkey Diplomatic Realignment Act, which looks to formally move Turkey’s designation at the U.S. State Department from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, reflecting Ankara’s deepening ties with Russia, China, Iran, and Hamas, which are fundamentally at odds with Western security interests.

“Turkey is at a crossroads, but Erdogan has made his choice,” Schneider said in a statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) meets former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) at the 16th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on November 9, 2023.  (Photo by TUR Presidency / Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Erdogan has deepened Turkey’s relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin during the war in Ukraine, purchasing the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system. And while much of the NATO alliance imposed stifling economic sanctions on Russia and looked to move away from energy dependence on Russia, Turkey maintained close trade and energy ties with Russia.

The proposed legislation requires the State Department to reassign Turkey’s diplomatic status within 90 days and submit a five-year congressional review on the consequences of Turkey’s realignment away from Europe. 

Endy Zemenides, Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council and whose organization supports the legislation, told Fox News Digital that he applauds the bipartisan group of legislators for requiring the State Department to deal with Ankara realistically. 

“An honest evaluation of the U.S .foreign policy bureaucracy reveals that we have unwittingly granted Turkey a “lobby” within multiple State Department bureaus, the size of which is wholly undeserved by a country that has, at best, become “neither friend nor foe,” Zemenides told Fox News Digital.