The US ambassador to Ankara, Jeffrey Flake, made it clear that the US sale of F-16s to Turkey is not linked to the process of Sweden and Finland joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
This came in statements made by Flick during his meeting with a number of journalists in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Thursday, during which he referred to the meeting that brought together Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday with his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, in Washington, expressing his happiness regarding the high-level meetings between the two sides.
The US ambassador stated that the two ministers discussed during the meeting the issue of selling F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, and issues related to NATO. Flake confirmed that US President Joe Biden’s administration supports the sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey.
He continued, “Congress is an independent institution and must ratify the sale process, and the president’s administration cannot take such a decision (sale) on its own,” explaining that Minister Blinken thanked Turkey for its active role in the agreement to ship grain across the Black Sea.
The situation in Syria
In response to a question regarding the start of communication between Turkey and the Syrian regime, Flick said that Washington opposes normalization and building relations with the Syrian regime.
And he added, “We are communicating with our Turkish counterparts regarding the security situation in northeastern Syria, and we are always looking for ways to work with our Turkish allies, and Turkey is an important ally in the fight once morest ISIS, and we have a good dialogue with Ankara.”
In the same context, Anadolu Agency reported that Washington said it “highly values” the partnership with Turkey, with which it has “deep and long-term bilateral defense relations.”
They criticize Bolton
On the other hand, the spokesman for the Turkish presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, criticized the statements of former US National Security Adviser John Bolton regarding the Turkish elections.
Kalin commented, in a tweet on Bolton’s call for NATO to interfere in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, that “efforts to subjugate the democratic will of the Turkish people under tutelage are a miserable attempt. Gone are the days when you played the role of colonial ruler.”
