National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the Biden administration will move forward with a $20 billion sale of Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
Sullivan’s comments came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to back Sweden’s NATO bid after over a year of negotiations. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Erdogan would submit Sweden’s NATO bid to Turkey’s parliament for approval.
Sullivan insisted that the F-16 sale to Turkey and the issue of Sweden’s NATO bid were not related. However, President Biden previously made clear that the two issues were linked.
After speaking with Erdogan in May, Biden said: “He still wants to work on something on the F-16s. I told him we wanted a deal with Sweden, so let’s get that done. And so we’ll be back in touch with one another.”
US officials also previously told The Wall Street Journal that Congress would not approve the F-16 deal until Turkey supported both Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO.
“President Biden has been clear for months that he supports the transfer of F-16s to Turkey, that this is in our national interest and the interest of NATO,” Sullivan told reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius. “He’s placed no caveats or conditions on that.”
After Turkey approved Finland’s NATO bid, the State Department approved a $259 million sale to Ankara for kits to upgrade their current F-16s. The kits were initially supposed to be part of the deal for the new F-16s.
While Erdogan has given his approval for Sweden’s NATO bid, it’s still unclear when Stockholm will officially join the alliance. The Turkish parliament needs to vote on the issue, and Hungary is still holding out on giving its approval for Sweden to join.
We will slowly find out what carrots and sticks the US used to get Erdogan to agree to Sweden’s movement into NATO. These will likely involve as many rights violations and war crimes as previous US policy all over the globe.
Same goes to Russia, right?
You have a uniquely short memory. I have repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion as a crime against humanity, as all state to state wars are. I have also called out Putin for the authoritarian he is. I have also consistently called for a ceasefire by all sides and a negotiated solution to all outstanding issues. This is hardly perfect, perhaps not even moral, as the entire enterprise of international relations is inherently immoral. Yet, it holds the hope of real harm reduction, as in ceasing the slaughter of innocents, and dialing down the risk of a nuclear holocaust.
Yet, I recognize also that it is the US/NATO that is the forward moving provocateur in this situation, pressing in on a Russia that has given no indication that it seeks to threaten any NATO nation and every indication that it lacks the capacity to do so. That is I recognize that Russia has reacted the way any nation state, even the good ole US of A would when similarly provoked. It seems your golden “rules based order” only applies to other nations not the US.
I think I have asked you this but I would like a specific answer; how far are you willing to go to restore Ukraine’s 1991 borders? How far are you willing to insert the US/NATO into this conflict? And as importantly, how can you justify any of this as defending the United States from an existential threat?
“Sullivan insisted that the F-16 sale to Turkey and the issue of Sweden’s NATO bid were not related.” Funniest thing I’ve read all day. I’m pretty sure the “sale” will include “deep discounting” (at US taxpayer expense) for our “friend and ally”, just because. Nothing to do with Turkey finally sort-of doing what we’ve been begging them to do. Now, we have to bribe Hungary to do the same. I imagine Erdogan and Orban are on the phone right now, discussing what to demand from us next.
Knew there was a deal… But Erdogan wants F-35 instead…!
“Sullivan insisted that the F-16 sale to Turkey and the issue of Sweden’s NATO bid were not related.”
“I spoke to Erdogan. I congratulated Erdogan. He still wants to work on something on the F-16s. I told him we wanted a deal with Sweden, so let’s get that done. And so we’ll be back in touch with one another,” Biden told reporters before departing the White House for Delaware.
I guess they thought they already walked back Biden’s comments.
Of course those F16s were a huge part of the price he charged to agree to Finland’s membership.
I bet the Kurdish refugees he promised to remove from his country will also play into this too. His people want them sent back to Syria and Syria don’t want them either.
Will we establish more refugee camps in Northern Syria as part of the okey dokie?