Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that the Turkish parliament will ratify Sweden’s NATO membership as long as the US follows through on its plans to sell Turkey F-16 fighter jets.
Erdogan told NATO in July that Turkey’s parliament would approve Sweden’s membership when it reconvenes this fall, but there has yet to be a vote. The F-16 deal that Turkey is seeking is expected to be worth $20 billion, and President Biden has indicated it would go through if Ankara ratifies Sweden’s NATO bid.
“I hope that, so long as they remain true to their promises, our parliament will also remain loyal to the promise that was made,” Erdogan told reporters.
While the Biden administration supports the F-16 deal for Turkey, there has been opposition from Congress. The deal’s main opponent has been Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who just stepped down from his influential post as the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the Department of Justice indicted him for corruption over allegations that he accepted bribes to benefit Egypt.
Erdogan said Menendez stepping down provided an opportunity for Turkey. “Thanks to this development, we may have an opportunity to speed up the process regarding the F-16 sale. Menendez and those who share his mentality are not only creating obstacles on the F-16s but on all other issues,” he said.
Erdogan said his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week and discussed several issues, including the F-16 deal. “These talks continue but it would be useful to talk with him [Blinken] once again to turn this situation into an opportunity,” Erdogan said. “Now, we are waiting for a clear answer from the US. We hope that we will get the expected positive outcome without further delay.”
These guys ain’t talking Turkey…
(I could not resist the pun)
The US violated the JSF MOU in ousting Turkey from the F-35 program. It should have been a decision by all the partners, not just the US. When are partners not partners? When the US “sits at the head of the table” implementing the “rules-based international order.” . . . Anyhow it turned out well, Turkey didn’t get stuck with the F-35s. For example, South Korea is buying 25 F-35 mistake-jets for $5 billion, or $200 million each for planes with 55 percent availability. . .F-16 is better.
In the end just about any of these “leaders” can be bought.
Erdogan is so nice. …How nice is he? Not only does he poison his own people/environment with our (un)recyclable plastic rejected by our own landfills and China (I must add), he also pays $20 Billion for F-16s soon to be donated to Ukraine by all other vassal states! Even Ukraine is complaining it’s not getting better military planes! It gets worse. He’s also allowing NATO’s expansion to Sweden, a country committed to burning his holy books! Erdogan is so nice, he’s a joke! (Sarcasm)
Note to Erdogan; GET the F-16 deal FIRST; Biden has a history of not keeping promises.
JF-17s for sale . . . no baggage included.
So as Russian SU-35s…!
Wow. Didn’t take Turkey to sell out from their previous position.