(Ankara) The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken affirmed Monday in Ankara the availability of his government to supply F-16 fighters to Turkey, without mentioning a timetable for this question which has poisoned bilateral relations for years.
“The Biden administration strongly supports the package to modernize existing F-16s and supply new ones to Turkey,” Blinken said, adding, however, that he could not provide a “formal timeline,” with any sale conditional on a green light from the US Congress.
Turkey being a “NATO ally and partner, it is in our national interest and in the interest […] of the Alliance”, added the head of American diplomacy during a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, promised by US President Joe Biden, is the subject of opposition in Congress due in particular to the human rights situation in Turkey and the Turkish blockage over the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
MM. Blinken and Cavusoglu expressed their differences of opinion on this last issue, the American official recalling that the two Nordic countries had taken “concrete measures” and should be admitted to NATO “as soon as possible”.
“It would be unfair to make NATO membership of Sweden and Finland a condition for the F-16s,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said. “Turkey must not have its hands tied,” he added, saying he hoped that “(US) sanctions will be lifted as soon as possible.”
Turkey accuses Sweden, among other things, of harboring Kurdish militants and sympathizers whom it qualifies as “terrorists”, in particular those of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Mr. Blinken is due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday, after visiting the site of the earthquake that devastated southern Turkey on Sunday.
The head of American diplomacy announced one hundred million dollars in additional aid for Turkey. Washington had already released a first tranche of $85 million in humanitarian aid.
This is the US Secretary of State’s first trip to Turkey since taking office two years ago.
Turkey has already paid $1.4 billion for an order of American F-35 stealth fighter jets, which were never delivered.
The entire contract had been frozen by the United States in 2019 after Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-missile system, perceived as a threat to the F-35. Washington had then excluded Turkey from this advanced military program.