Top US Senator threatens to Block F-16 sale to Turkey
3 Min Read
The US Senator's objections indicate a rocky road for the arms sale, as Turkey's protests continue to impede Sweden and Finland's submission to NATO.
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An F-16 aircraft of the Turkish Stars aerobatic team of the Turkish Air Force performs during Teknofest airshow in Istanbul, Turkey September 20, 2018. (Reuters)
Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, US Senator Bob Menendez, vowed to block a proposed sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey unless Ankara "adjusts its behavior" to suit Washington’s tastes.
“I strongly oppose the Biden administration’s proposed sale of new F-16 aircraft to Turkey,” Menendez said in a statement.
Multiple outlets reported early on Friday that the US government is considering selling Turkey 40 of the American-manufactured F-16s for $20 billion.
However, the US legislature's leading foreign affairs official pledged to block the deal, accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of attempting to "undermine international law, disregard human rights and democratic norms, and engage in alarming and destabilizing behavior in Turkey and against neighboring NATO allies."
Read next: Erdogan: Turkey will take care of itself if US doesn't send F-16 jets
Menendez insisted that unless Erdogan ceases "his threats, improves his human rights record at home… and begins to act like a trusted ally should," the sale will not go through.
It is far from the first indication that Washington may use the potential arms sale as a bargaining chip to force Turkey to drop its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
A Finnish official insisted that Finland has “not been part of any discussions” regarding the proposed F-16 deal. However, Turkey’s reservations focused on Sweden – specifically, Stockholm harboring what Ankara designated “terrorist organizations."
Sweden publicly refused on Thursday to extradite four people sought by Turkey for alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric accused of masterminding the failed coup in 2016.
Turkey was set to receive the notoriously unreliable F-35 fighter jets from the United States, but Washington canceled the deal in 2019 in retaliation for Ankara's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense system. The Turkish government signed a contract in August to purchase a second batch of S-400s.
After the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned on Thursday the Swedish Ambassador to Ankara in protest of the PKK rally held in Stockholm, and canceled the invitation to his Swedish counterpart Andreas Norlen, Finland's Parliament Speaker Matti Vanhanen on Friday called off his planned trip to Ankara.
"We planned to fly together on a Swedish government plane, so technically it is impossible for me to travel there alone," Vanhanen was quoted as saying by Finnish broadcaster YLE.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop said Norlen was no longer welcome after the Rojava Committee of Sweden hung an effigy made in the likeness of the Turkish president from a lamp pole during a protest outside Stockholm City Hall on Wednesday.
