US President Joe Biden said that his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressed, on Monday, his desire to buy F-16 fighters from the United States.
Biden said that he had told Erdogan, during a phone call, that Washington was keen for Ankara to drop its objection to Sweden joining NATO.
“I spoke to Erdogan and congratulated him, and he still wants to work on the F-16,” he said, speaking to reporters before leaving the White House for Delaware.
“I told him we want to deal with Sweden, so let’s get this done. So we’ll get back in touch with each other,” he added.
“We’ll talk more about that next week,” he added.
Reuters said that the Turkish presidency’s statement on the call was brief and vague, as it indicated that the two leaders agreed to deepen cooperation in all aspects of their bilateral relations, which they said had grown more important in facing regional and global challenges.
Turkey sought $20 billion worth of F-16s from the United States, but the sale has not moved quickly due to objections from the US Congress, although the Biden administration has repeatedly said it supports the sale.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year and abandoned longstanding military non-alignment policies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey ratified Finland’s accession to NATO in late March, but has continued to object to Sweden, saying Stockholm harbors members of militant groups it considers terrorist.
Also, Hungary has not yet agreed to Sweden’s request.
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2023-05-29 20:43:43
