President Joe Biden wants to sell advanced fighter jets to Turkey, but his effort faces opposition from Democrats in the US Congress.
Biden's authority to sell F-16 fighter fighters to Ankara will be restricted by a bipartisan resolution that will be voted in the House this week. A key Senate Democrat has already stated he will not support the deal.
The latest high-profile clash over foreign policy between House Democrats and the Biden administration makes it almost impossible for the government to carry out its declared intention to sell the jets to a NATO ally, as per a report from Politico.
In an interview, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) commented on Turkey's move: "How do you reward a nation that does all of those things? I don't see it. Now, if they want to start changing their ways, that's a different story."
Menendez is among the four lawmakers whose endorsement is needed for military hardware sales. Although Biden stated last month at the NATO summit that he wanted to sell the jets to Turkey, he has long opposed the idea and has reiterated his opposition this week.
Turkey abandoned its objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO following Biden's announcement. The White House has insisted that there was no relationship between the Turkish decision and the president's remarks.
According to lawmakers, Turkey should have refrained from hindering the two NATO aspirants. In addition, Ankara's pilots have repeatedly violated Greece's airspace in recent weeks, and it is now subject to US sanctions because of its prior purchases of Russian-made missile defense systems. The emergence of authoritarianism under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was another point Menendez made.
The annual military policy legislation is up for a House vote this week, and one amendment would restrict Biden's options by prohibiting the transaction unless he can vouch for its importance to American national security and guarantee that the US fighter jets won't be used to violate Greek airspace.
Biden Willing To Work With Congress
A State Department official said on Thursday that President Joe Biden last week expressed his willingness to cooperate with Congress on the renewal and upgrade of Turkey's F-16 fighter jet fleet per Anadolu.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Doug Jones told journalists at the Foreign Press Center at last week's NATO summit in Madrid that the F-16 issue has been "up there for a while" and the Biden administration's stand is that it supports Turkey's modernizing."
Jones added: "The President has also been clear that he needs to support Congress to do this as well. So the leaders have spoken about this, but the position of the administration remains what it was before, before the summit in support of this sale, and expressed the willingness to work with Congress."
In October 2021, the Turkish government requested F-16s and modernization equipment.
The $6 billion agreement will see the sale of 80 F-16 C/D variants currently in the Turkish Air Force's inventory along with 40 brand-new F-16 fighter jets.
Greece Warns US on Biden's Proposed Military Sale
Turkish President Erdogan is despised on Capitol Hill, but legislators are generally hesitant to harm a NATO partner that acts as a crucial line of defense against Russia in the Black Sea.
When asked if she backs the F-16 modernization, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), co-chairwoman of the Senate NATO Observer Group said that it is crucial for the US "to keep Turkey as a strong NATO ally," The Hill reported.
In an address to a joint session of Congress in May, the prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, cautioned lawmakers to carefully evaluate "defense procurement decisions affecting the eastern Mediterranean" that could contribute to "instability on NATO's southeastern flank."
Mitsotakis referred to Turkish overflights of Greek islands, which Ankara denies but which Athens claims are threatening.
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