US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration supports the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, and expressed confidence that both Sweden and Finland will soon join the NATO alliance, as he visited Ankara for talks with Turkish leaders on the Monday.
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.
Cavusoglu said the F-16 issue should not be tied to Turkey ratifying Sweden and Finland joining NATO. 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 Turkiye.”
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, and that Turkey sees funding, recruitment and propaganda for terrorism continuing in Sweden.
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
Blinken also met on Monday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a session that was closed to the press.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken and Erdogan discussed support for Ukraine and the U.S. commitment to help Turkey in its recovery from the earthquake.
US Sends Another $100 Million in Earthquake Aid to Turkey, Syria
Blinken on Sunday announced pledges of $100 million in addition to U.S. aid to Turkey and Syria after the Feb. 6 earthquake that has killed more than 44,000 people.
He will travel later Monday to Greece where the State Department said he will “discuss defense cooperation, energy security and our shared commitment to defending democracy” with leaders there.
Some information for this story came from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Source: sn.dk