The Biden administration has repeatedly rejected any assertion of any "quid pro quo" between the sale and the NATO enlargement, although Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in January said the U.S. Congress earlier this year, days after Turkey ratified Finland's NATO accession.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN MIDDLE NAME SOFTWARE
REUTERS/Umit BektasĪ much smaller $259 million package including avionics software upgrades for Turkey's current fleet of F-16 fighter aircraft was cleared by U.S. Congress over Ankara's refusal to green light to NATO enlargement, its human rights record and Syria policy, even though the Biden administration has repeatedly said it supports the sale.Ī Turkish Air Force F16 jet lands at a new airport under construction in Istanbul, Turkey September 22, 2018. But the sale has been stalled due to objections from the U.S. Turkey has sought to buy $20 billion worth of F-16s and nearly 80 modernization kits from the United States.
Turkey and Hungary have yet to approve Sweden's bid. Bids for membership must be approved by all NATO members. Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, ditching long-held policies of military non-alignment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We're going to talk more about it next week." And so we'll be back in touch with one another," Biden told reporters before departing the White House for Delaware.Īsked if he expected any movement from Erdogan on Sweden's NATO membership, Biden said: "I raised that issue with him. I told him we wanted a deal with Sweden, so let's get that done. He still wants to work on something on the F-16s. The exchange took place when Biden called Erdogan to congratulate him on his victory in Turkey's presidential election on Sunday. President Joe Biden said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a call on Monday repeated Ankara's desire to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States, while Biden told him Washington wanted Ankara to drop its objection to Sweden's joining NATO.
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