“SIMULTANEOUSLY”
In December, Erdogan had linked Sweden’s membership to the US Congress “concurrently” agreeing to promote F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye. He additionally stated NATO allies together with Canada ought to carry arms embargoes imposed on Ankara.
“Sweden’s NATO membership and F-16 gross sales to Turkey might be dealt with in coordination to some extent… as a result of sadly, neither nation trusts the opposite,” Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the Ankara workplace director of the US German Marshall Fund suppose tank, instructed AFP.
Türkiye’s ageing air drive has suffered from Ankara’s expulsion from the US-led F-35 joint strike fighter programme in 2019.
This was in retaliation for Erdogan’s resolution to accumulate a complicated Russian missile defence system that NATO views as an operational safety menace.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly promised to maneuver ahead with the US$20 billion F-16 sale however lawmakers have blocked it over considerations about Türkiye’s alleged violations of human rights and long-running tensions with Greece.
“There isn’t any sturdy consensus within the parliament on Sweden’s NATO membership, nor within the US Congress on the sale of F-16s to Turkey,” Unluhisarcikli stated.
Erdogan’s anti-Israel rhetoric after the beginning of its warfare with Hamas had raised considerations in Washington.
“Though the problems usually are not associated, Turkey’s statements supporting Hamas additional difficult the F-16 course of,” Unluhisarcikli stated, including that the killing of Turkish troopers by Kurdish militants final weekend might additionally issue into Sweden’s NATO membership.
“But when Biden and Erdogan present the required will, we are able to count on the method to be concluded quickly,” he added.