Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday that the US should approve a $20 billion F-16 sale to Turkey despite objections from some members of Congress.
“As we said together before, this is not only for Turkey but also important for NATO and for the United States as well,” Cavusoglu said ahead of the meeting. “So we expect the approval in line with our joint strategic interests.”
According to the Turkish broadcaster TRT World, Cavusoglu also told Blinken to convey to Congress that the F-16 deal shouldn’t be linked to Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids, which Ankara has yet to approve.
The deal would be for 40 F-16 fighter jets and 79 kits to upgrade Turkey’s existing fleet. It has the support of the Biden administration, but after the potential deal was first reported, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came out strongly against the sale.
The administration has yet to notify Congress of the potential deal, but Menendez’s position suggests lawmakers may try to block it, although they could be looking to use it as leverage to get Turkey to sign off on Sweden and Finland joining NATO. US officials told The Wall Street that they are trying to convince Turkey to approve Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid, with one official calling the F-16 sale a “carrot on a stick.”
The US and Turkey are also at odds over Ankara’s steps toward rapprochement with the Syrian government. While no deals have been signed, Russia is working on setting up a meeting between Syria and Turkey’s foreign ministers after their defense ministers met for the first time since 2011. In light of the talks, the US said it was against any countries normalizing with the Assad government.
In a joint statement, the US and Turkey mentioned topics Blinken and Cavusoglu covered in their meeting, which included Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids, the F-16 deal, and Syria. But it wasn’t clear if there was any concrete result from the talks.
Is it looking like a WAR yet?….
I keep forgetting that this is just business as usual…
“the F-16 deal shouldn’t be linked to Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids” — heavens to Betsy, no. That might slow things down. Time to spend considering what the Sam Hill this is really for. Ottoman-Empire-building? making defense industries (mainly US but elsewhere) wealthier and drivers of de-manufacturing-otherwise economies, giving puerile politicians something to rant and rave about (ignoring anything useful to the people).
“…. with one official calling the F-16 sale a ‘carrot on a stick.’” Hahaha. “One official” is so funny… and smart. How smart is he?
Well, he knows Turkey is not smart enough to read the Wall Street Journal. Even if they could, he used the subtle and diplomatic metaphor of a “carrot on a stick.” Wink wink. So subtle. Was it Blinken? Was it Menendez? IDK… Hahaha… This guy… So funny and smart, he could be a comedian. He could be funny, unless he had an ugly warmongering face with empty eyes. (Sarcasm Alert)
Turkey ought not to want any more F-16’s. They are outdated, and could not fight either Russia or Israel. Those are the only two potential enemies against whom modern aircraft might be needed.
Turkey does not need them to deal with Iran.
Turkey has no other potential enemies, except the US itself, which is a separate question of NATO/Incirlik Airbase and the US attempted regime change attack. F-16’s can’t help with that.
Mark, the truth, Thomason!
Is the F-16 really inferior to the F-22 and F-35?