The United States announced that it would sell F-16 fighter planes to Türkiye. Türkiye just released Sweden's "accession" Erdogan | sell | join | the United States | fighter planes | Turkey | Sweden | Türkiye

Jack Sullivan, assistant to the President of the United States for national security affairs, said on the 11th local time that President Joseph Biden would promote the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye. The United States had previously linked this matter to Türkiye's ratification of Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, while Türkiye had just relented on Sweden's "accession" to the Treaty.

Sullivan attended the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on the same day. He told media reporters before the opening of the summit that Biden "has always clearly supported this arms sales plan... he intends to push forward with this plan.". He said that it is in the interests of the United States and NATO to sell F-16 fighters to Türkiye.

Sullivan claimed that the promotion of the F-16 arms sales project had nothing to do with Türkiye's no longer opposing Sweden's accession to NATO.

However, Biden clearly linked the two in his previous negotiations with Turkey. According to Agence France Presse, after Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won re-election at the end of May, Biden immediately talked with him on the phone, during which he tied Sweden's "accession" to the Treaty with the sale of F-16 to Türkiye by the United States for the first time.

After the conversation, Biden told media reporters that Erdogan "still wants to do something about the F-16. I told him that we want to reach an agreement with Sweden, so let's take care of those things.".

The US Congress also intends to take advantage of this to "pinch" Türkiye. In February this year, nearly 30 federal senators sent a joint letter to Biden, saying that only when Türkiye approved Sweden's accession to NATO, the Congress would consider approving the sale of F-16 fighters.

Erdogan, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christsson held trilateral talks in Vilnius on the 10th. Stoltenberg said at the press conference after the meeting that Erdogan agreed to submit Sweden's accession protocol to the Turkish Parliament as soon as possible, and would work closely with the Turkish Parliament to ensure the ratification of the protocol.

Türkiye had previously opposed Sweden's accession to NATO, citing Sweden's failure to comply with the memorandum of understanding reached between the two sides in Madrid, the Spanish capital, in June last year, and its failure to meet Türkiye's security concerns by sheltering people regarded by Turkey as terrorists, such as members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

After Türkiye changed its position, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate, the Democrat Menendez, who has always opposed the sale of F-16 to Türkiye, said on the 11th that he was discussing the arms sale plan with the Biden administration and might make a decision within the next week. The arms sales plan needs to be approved by Congress before it can be implemented.

Türkiye had previously purchased S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia, which caused serious dissatisfaction of the United States, and then kicked Turkey out of the F-35 fighter cooperation project and refused to sell this model of fighter to Turkey as punishment.

Erdogan said in October 2021 that the US proposed Turkey to purchase American made F-16 fighter jets to offset the funds already paid by Turkey for the F-35 project. At that time, Turkey requested the purchase of 40 F-16 fighter jets and approximately 80 existing fighter upgrade packages, with a total price of 20 billion US dollars.

In May 2022, Sweden and Finland simultaneously applied to join NATO. In July of the same year, representatives of 30 NATO member countries signed a protocol for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. According to regulations, all NATO member states must unanimously agree to accept new members. Finland was officially approved to join NATO on April 4 this year, but Sweden's accession protocol has not been officially ratified by Türkiye and Hungary.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister Sijardo Peter said last week that if Türkiye's position changes, Hungary will not delay the process of any country joining NATO.

[News link] Türkiye: Hope..., Russia: Don't have any illusions

According to Reuters, a senior Turkish official said on July 11 that Türkiye hopes to make some progress on the issue of EU accession after Turkey agreed to Sweden's accession to NATO.

According to the report, the Turkish senior official said that Türkiye hopes that the EU can make "concrete progress" in such aspects as visa free negotiations.

Turkey also hopes to complete some "paragraphs" on the issue of joining the European Union.

The high-ranking Turkish official also said that the West needs to give Türkiye financial support.

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the 10th that if European countries can "pave the way" for Türkiye's accession to the EU, Türkiye can approve Sweden's accession to NATO.

Türkiye applied to join the European Community, the predecessor of the European Union, in 1987, obtained the candidacy in 1999, and started the accession negotiations in 2005, but the negotiation process was blocked. Since 2016, negotiations on visa exemption between Türkiye and the EU have actually been suspended.

On the 11th, Russian President's press secretary Peskov poured cold water on Türkiye's expectations on the issue of "accession".

According to Reuters, Peskov said that Türkiye should not have illusions about being allowed to join the EU.

Peskov said at a regular press conference that Türkiye can turn to the west, but "we also know that... no one wants to see Türkiye enter Europe, I mean Europeans. Our Turkish partners should not wear rose colored glasses".

Reuters pointed out that what Peskov said was that the EU had long been unwilling to accept Türkiye, a relatively poor country.