Biden urges Congress to proceed with F-16 sale to Turkey
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Turkey's approval of Sweden joining NATO prompts Biden to up the pace on the F-16 sale to Turkey.
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President Joe Biden and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
Yesterday, a US official informed Anadolu that President Joe Biden urged Congress to proceed with a pending F-16 sale to Turkey "without delay" through a letter he sent to the top lawmakers on the House and Senate foreign relations committees.
The official, who prefers to remain anonymous, stated that the letter welcomed "the Turkish parliament’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession protocols” and informed the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Biden administration "intends to formally notify Congress of the sale of F-16s to Tukey as soon as this process is complete."
On Tuesday, the Turkish parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership in a 287 to 55 vote.
A National Security Council spokesperson stated after Turkey's approval that Biden continues to support the sale of F-16s and their modernization kits to Ankara, claiming that it "would help facilitate NATO interoperability and is in the US national interest."
Turkey submitted a letter of request in October 2021 to purchase 40 F-16 Block 70 fighter jets and 79 modernization kits from the US. An informal notification was sent to Congress on January 2023 from Biden's administration initiating the latter's negotiation process with Congress which tied the sale to the condition of Turkey approving Sweden's NATO accession bid.
F-16s instead of F-35s
In April 2021, the United States debarred Turkey from the F-35 program because it acquired Russia's S-400 air defense systems. Later that year, Erdogan mentioned that the US proposed that Turkey purchase F-16 jets instead, which are one generation behind the F-35s. However, this deal required approval from the US Congress and faced strong opposition from many lawmakers.
The US linked the F-16 deal to Turkey's approval of Sweden's NATO bid. Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year, citing changes in the European security picture because of the Ukraine crisis. As Finland went on to become a member, Turkey, and Hungary stymied Sweden's bid, with Budapest citing grievances over Stockholm's criticism of Hungary's Prime Minister, and Ankara accusing Sweden of harboring what it considers Kurdish terrorists.
