Türkiye’s Erdogan braces for meeting with Biden in May
“PLAYED WELL”
The Biden administration in January permitted US$23 billion in F-16 warplanes for Türkiye swiftly after it ratified Sweden’s stalled NATO membership bid.
Türkiye will get 40 new F-16s and upgrades to 79 of the jets in its present fleet.
Washington didn’t green-light the transaction till Türkiye’s devices of ratification of Sweden’s membership had arrived in Washington, a US official stated again then, highlighting the extremely delicate nature of the negotiations.
“Turkey performed its hand fairly properly over the F-16s and cope with Sweden and leveraged its place within the alliance,” Cagaptay stated.
Türkiye’s ageing air power would profit from new F-16s, because it has suffered from Ankara’s expulsion from the US-led F-35 joint strike fighter programme in 2019 over Erdogan’s resolution to accumulate a complicated Russian missile defence system.
Erdogan has was one of many Muslim world’s harshest critics of Israel’s devastating response to the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct 7 final 12 months.
He’s indignant at Washington for its assist of how Israel is pursuing its struggle in opposition to Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
The Turkish chief has in contrast Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and accused america of sponsoring the “genocide” of Palestinians.
He has additionally rebuffed US stress to chop off the suspected circulate of funding to Hamas by means of Türkiye, and defended the group as legitimately elected “liberators” combating for his or her land.
Erdogan met with Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in 2019.
In 2017, his journey to Washington was marred by scuffles between protesters in opposition to the Turkish chief’s authorities and members of Erdogan’s safety element.
That assault occurred shortly after Erdogan’s first official assembly with Trump on the White Home.
Türkiye’s spy company chief Ibrahim Kalin is because of meet with members of the US Home of Representatives within the capital Ankara on Friday.
Native media reported that they had been on account of focus on Erdogan’s coming go to, the struggle in opposition to Islamic State extremists after the deadly Moscow attack, in addition to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.