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Story: Turkey-US; 07-27-2022;
F-16 fighter jets deal talks between Türkiye-US, on positive track!
• Biden backs Türkiye’s F-16 fighter jet request.
• Washington on Tuesday reaffirmed its support of Türkiye’s request to buy F-16 fighter jets.
“We’ve been very clear about the F-16. That conversation about the F-16 and Türkiye has been around for some time,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference.
• “We talked about this several months ago. So there’s really nothing new. The president has supported that effort,” Jean-Pierre added.
She replied to the criticism made by a group of Democratic lawmakers who opposed Biden’s remarks, in which later said “Washington should sell F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye,” and that “the needed approval from congressmen would be obtained.”
“We should sell the F-16 to Türkiye. I said that in December, and my position hasn’t changed since then. It’s not in our interests not to sell them. We need congressional approval to get there, and I think we’ll get there.”
Biden made these remarks in a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid.
Turkiye stance:
• Türkiye's Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said the talks with US on F-16 fighter jets going well, says negative atmosphere seen in Congress in past years has disappeared.
Ankara made request to acquire modern F-16 fighter jets from America back in October, in order to modernize its military, if the deal gets green light it would account for $6 billion (estimated).
Türkiye wants to acquire 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes.
Brief history on the relationship of Türkiye and U.S.:
• The Türkiye and United States government shared sorrow relationship in the past, although Türkiye is an NATO member and considered important ally by U.S.
The relationship went down hill between the two nations, when Ankara acquired Russian-made S-400 defence missile systems. The U.S. in response sanctioned Türkiye, and removed Türkiye from the F-35 fighter jet program, stating reasons of security of the program itself.