The Biden administration has authorised the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Turkish authorities’s ratification this week of Sweden’s membership in NATO.
The transfer is a big improvement within the enlargement of the alliance, which has taken on further significance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The State Department notified Congress of its approval of the $23bn F-16 sale to Turkey, together with a companion $8.6bn sale of superior F-35 fighter jets to Greece, late Friday. The transfer got here simply hours after Turkey deposited its “instrument of ratification” for Sweden’s accession to Nato with Washington, which is the repository for alliance paperwork and after a number of key members of Congress lifted their objections.
The sale to Turkey consists of 40 new F-16s and tools to modernize 79 of its present F-16 fleet. The sale to Greece consists of 40 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and associated tools.
NATO ally Turkey has lengthy sought to improve its F-16 fleet and had made its ratification of Sweden’s membership contingent on the approval of the sale of the brand new planes. The Biden administration had supported the sale, however a number of lawmakers had expressed objections because of human rights considerations.
Those objections, together with from the chairman and rating member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sens Ben Cardin, D-Md, and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, have now been overcome, officers stated.
Mr Cardin stated in assertion Friday that he had nonetheless had considerations about Turkey’s rights document, however had agreed to the sale based mostly on commitments Turkey has made to enhance it. “I look forward to beginning this new chapter in our relationship with Turkey, expanding the NATO alliance, and working with our global allies in standing up to ongoing Russian aggression against its peaceful neighbors,” he stated.
Turkey had delayed its approval of Sweden’s Nato membership for greater than a yr, ostensibly as a result of it believed Sweden didn’t take Turkey’s nationwide safety considerations severely sufficient, together with its combat in opposition to Kurdish militants and different teams that Ankara considers to be safety threats.
The delays had pissed off the U.S, and different Nato allies, nearly all of whom had been swift to simply accept each Sweden and Finland into the alliance after the Nordic states dropped their longstanding army neutrality following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Sweden’s formal accession to Nato now will depend on Hungary, which is the final remaining NATO ally to not have authorised its membership. US and Nato officers have stated they count on Hungary to behave rapidly, particularly after Turkey’s determination.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk