Hürriyet: the sale of American F-16s to Turkey depends on Sweden’s and Finland’s membership in NATO
Sale of American F-16 fighters to Turkey will depend on the process of Sweden’s and Finland’s membership in NATO, events in Ukraine and normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus, the Hürriyet newspaper reported on Friday.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the process of Swedish and Finnish membership in NATO should proceed separately from the deal between Ankara and Washington on the F-16 fighters.
The newspaper emphasizes the fact that “even in Greece, some experts argue that Turkey should sell F-16s to keep it in the Western alliance.”
“And, of course, members of Congress will also make such a calculation,” Hürriyet writes.
The U.S. had previously excluded Turkey from its program of supplying the latest F-35 fighter jets as punishment for buying Russian S-400 air defense systems. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan subsequently announced an American proposal to buy other fighters, but not fifth, but the fourth generation – the F-16. The deal has yet to be approved by Congress, where it has powerful opponents.