Jan 25, 2024. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
The U.S.
ambassador to Turkey said he anticipates that President Tayyip Erdogan will
give a final sign-off on Sweden's NATO membership within days, triggering rapid
steps toward U.S. Congress endorsing a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.
In an interview on Thursday, Ambassador Jeff Flake said that once the formal ratification document is received in Washington, the U.S. State Department will immediately send Congress notification of the $20 billion F-16s sale.
Turkey's
parliament ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid on Tuesday, clearing a major
hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance after 20 months of delay.
Erdogan
needs to sign the legislation, which would be published in Turkey's Official
Gazette. The instrument of accession for Sweden also needs to be sent to
Washington.
Asked
whether he expected this "within days", Flake, a former U.S.
Republican senator, told Reuters: "Yes, I do."
"I see
no reason why, with the parliament having acted here, that Turkey would
wait," he said. "So I would expect as soon as that is conveyed to
Washington, then congressional notification (of the F-16 sales) will
happen."
"The
president here needs to sign it and then the instrument needs to be conveyed to
Washington," he told Reuters by phone. "As soon as that happens, then
we expect notification to happen. And official notification will happen."
Both
Erdogan and members of the U.S. Congress had tied Turkey's backing of Sweden's
NATO bid with congressional approval of the $20 billion sale of Lockheed Martin
(LMT.N), opens new tab aircraft and modernization kits to Turkey.
U.S.
President Joe Biden sent a letter to leaders of key Capitol Hill committees on
Wednesday informing them of his intention to begin the formal notification
process for the F-16 sale once Ankara completes Sweden's NATO accession
process.
CALLS TO
CONGRESS
Sweden bid
to join the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2022 to bolster its
security in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
All bloc
members must approve new members. But Turkey raised objections at the time over
what it said was Sweden's protection of groups it deems terrorists, prompting
Stockholm to introduce a new security law.
Ankara's
delays had frustrated some of its Western allies and enabled it to extract some
concessions. But Flake, who was envoy throughout the process, said Sweden
addressed Turkey's "very legitimate security needs" in that time.
The
ambassador said he has been in touch with the heads of the U.S. House and
Senate foreign relations committees, including those with concerns about
selling F-16s to Turkey over its human rights record and the Sweden delays.
"There
are members of Congress who felt strongly that before proceeding with the F-16
sale that Sweden needed to be a member of NATO," he said.
"But
they all see the value of Turkey's participation in NATO, and they all see the
value of interoperability that comes with this F-16 modernization."
Reuters
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