Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: A group of US senator has asked US President Joe Biden that the Congress cannot give a green light of sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara until Turkiye approves a request by Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
US senators and F-16 fighter jets sale
The development comes amid a diplomatic tension between Sweden and Turkiye. Both Finland and Sweden announced their NATO bid in 2022 after war in Ukraine. However, Turkiye has set preconditions in exchange for Ankara ratification of the membership requests, asking the two countries to harden their stance against the outlawed PKK.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the two countries of being “guesthouses for terror groups.” Following a far-right Danish politician recently burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, Ankara suspended trilateral meeting with Finland and Sweden, and postponed a meeting between Swedish and Turkish defense ministers.
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In their letter to President Biden, the US lawmakers said that the two countries were “making full” efforts to fulfill the conditions for NATO membership that Ankara asked.” The senators warned they would not even consider this sale in the absence of ratification.
For the first time, the US senators are insisting on linking the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara with the ratification of the NATO accession bids by Finland and Sweden.
Earlier, CNN quoted Congressional sources saying that the US is preparing to ask legislators to approve the F-16s sale to Ankara. If approved, it will be one of the largest US weapon sales in recent past.
