2023-07-11 23:35:00
Hours following the Turkish president dropped his opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership, the Biden administration signaled its intention to move ahead with a long-promised sale of F-16 jet fighters to Turkey.
Updated July 12, 2023 07:35 CST
Hours following the Turkish president dropped his opposition to Sweden’s membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Biden administration signaled its intention to go ahead with a long-promised sale of F-16 jet fighters to Turkey.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan dismissed the notion that the push to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey was directly related to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to agree to Sweden’s membership, saying there was no such agreement. quid pro quo.
“President Biden has made it clear for months that he supports the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, which is in our national interest and in the interest of NATO,” Sullivan told reporters on the sidelines of NATO leaders’ annual summit in Lithuania. “He didn’t put any restrictions or conditions on it,” Levine said.
However, U.S. officials said the fighter jets were a factor in the negotiations. According to The Wall Street Journal (The…
Hours following the Turkish president dropped his opposition to Sweden’s membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Biden administration signaled its intention to go ahead with a long-promised sale of F-16 jet fighters to Turkey.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan dismissed the notion that the push to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey was directly related to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to agree to Sweden’s membership, saying there was no such agreement. quid pro quo.
“President Biden has made it clear for months that he supports the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, which is in our national interest and in the interest of NATO,” Sullivan told reporters on the sidelines of NATO leaders’ annual summit in Lithuania. “He didn’t put any restrictions or conditions on it,” Levine said.
However, U.S. officials said the fighter jets were a factor in the negotiations. Biden administration officials had planned to use the potential arms sale to push Erdogan to drop his opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The agreement also makes it easier for the sale of F-16s to Turkey to pass through the US Congress. Congressional leaders have so far blocked the F-16 sale in protest of Turkey’s opposition to Sweden’s membership.
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