The US government, after months of discussions, authorised a $23 billionagreement to sell F-16 jets to Turkey days after Ankara accepted Sweden’sNATO membership, *AFP *reported citing the State Department.
As required by US law, the State Department notified Congress of theagreement, as well as a separate $8.6 billion sale of 40 F-35s to Greece.
The State Department announced in a news release that Turkey will getimprovements to 79 of its aircraft in its current fleet in addition to 40new F-16s.
The Turkish Parliament, after more than a year of delays that disruptedWestern efforts to demonstrate strength to Russia, finally acceptedSweden’s NATO membership on Tuesday.
At first, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan objected to Stockholm’sNATO request on allegations that it was hosting Kurdish organisations thatAnkara considered “terrorist”.
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In response, Sweden strengthened its anti-terrorism laws and implementedadditional security measures, as requested by Erdogan.
Erdogan, however, then shifted his focus to an unfulfilled US promise tosupply a batch of F-16 fighter jets, which had encountered opposition inCongress due to Turkey’s alleged violations of human rights and its ongoingstandoffs with Greece, a fellow NATO member.
During two visits to Turkey in the last three months, US Secretary of StateAntony Blinken informed the country that the acceptance of the Swedishmembership might aid in breaking congressional resistance to the F-16 sale.-APP/AFP