US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Ankara on Monday that the Biden administration supports the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. He also expressed confidence that both Sweden and Finland will soon join the NATO alliance.
The US Congress must approve the $20 billion sale of F-16s, which includes a Turkish request for 40 jets and nearly 80 modernization kits.
Blinken said during a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that he could not provide a timeline for formally notifying Congress of the proposed sale, but that he has actively communicated the Biden administration’s support for the deal.
“This is very important to ongoing NATO interoperability and to US national security,” Blinken said.
He met later on Monday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The visit comes as Turkey and Hungary remain the only NATO members that have not approved Sweden and Finland joining the alliance in a process that must be unanimous.
Blinken said the United States supports the adoption of Sweden and Finland “as soon as possible.”
He said he is “confident that NATO will formally welcome them soon, and when that happens, it will increase the security of every NATO member, including the United States, including Turkey.”
Turkey has expressed security concerns about Sweden, saying it has been too lenient with groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations. Cavusoglu said all parties must convince Sweden to address these concerns.
Faruk Logoglu, the former Turkish ambassador to the United States, told VOA that Turkey “stands on its own” and does not yet appear ready to accept the membership of Sweden and Finland.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week during his own visit to Turkey that “the time is now” for Turkey to ratify both countries as new NATO members.
Stoltenberg: “The time is now” for Turkey to approve Finland, Sweden joining NATO
Turkish officials have said Turkey may evaluate the two bids separately and may approve Finland’s on its own.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday that he remains “convinced” that Sweden and Finland will join NATO together.
“There are serious problems between Turkey and the United States,” Ilhan Uzgel, a professor of international relations, said in an interview with VOA.
He said Blinken’s visit to Turkey, along with US aid to earthquake victims, is unlikely to bring about major changes in Turkey-US relations in the short term.
Earthquake relief
A day after he announced pledges of $100 million in additional U.S. aid to Turkey and Syria following the Feb. 6 earthquake that has killed nearly 45,000 people, Blinken pledged continued support for Turkey.
US Sends Another $100 Million in Earthquake Aid to Turkey, Syria
“The United States is here to support you in your time of need, and we will be by your side as long as it takes to recover and rebuild,” Blinken told reporters.
Blinken next travels to Greece where the State Department said he will “discuss defense cooperation, energy security and our shared commitment to defending democracy” with leaders there.
VOA’s Turkish service contributed to this report. Some information for this story came from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Source: sn.dk